In This Life
by Kaibun
Summary: A/U B/V A chance encounter, a fated meeting and two lives are inescapably intertwined. How far can a person be pushed before breaking point? How long can one person last and survive, when even forgiveness just isn't enough?
1. Buradea

Chapter One: Buradea

Twelve year old Vegeta watched the scene below him. Most of Vegeta-sei lay in burning ruins. The blood red sun sank below the Kiyama Ranges as the young prince turned to his father.

"Why does it hurt?" the prince asked, his face clearly showing his internal pain.

"That's what happens when you care about things boy. I tried telling you. Nothing is immortal and no matter how hard you struggle, you'll lose it all in the end.

"I hate it," the prince choked, shaking his head. "I hate this feeling. My planet, Mum, my..." he trailed off.

"I tried to teach you brat. If you care for nothing, you'll be stronger, it'll make you invincible."

"Anything to stop feeling like this."

"The moment you stop caring, you'll stop the pain," the king told his son.

Vegeta stared resolutely at the burning ashes of his planet, amongst which somewhere lay his mother. And he almost consciously felt his heart stop beating, as it iced over, blocking out everyone and everything. The prince turned to face his father, an unrecognisable cold, hard, steely look in his eyes. The king smiled against the backdrop of his burning planet.

* * *

Twenty-year-old Vegeta sat up in bed, roused from his sleep by the dream. No, not a dream. By the memory. The memory from his childhood. The night he and his father had returned from a purge at the desperate bidding of his advisor Bardock to find the queen dead and the planet burning.

Vegeta looked out the bay window on the North side. The brimming rays of sun were spilling over the hills on the horizon. Closer to home the capital city, Kairon was awakening. It was a natural fortress, surrounded on one side by a giant cliff, unscaleable, and on the front side by a giant crevasse, across which there was only one way; the rock path, winding across the void. The rock path was no longer in existence however. When the Saiyans had first ventured deeper into the then 'Saru-sei', they had not yet learned to harness ki or to fly, and so the path had been a very strategic way in which the city was isolated. However the path became outdated when Saiyans learned how to fly, and had since been destroyed.

The young prince stretched, yawned and walked over to his wardrobe. He quickly dressed in his combat armour, realising with a shock that it had been nearly a year since he'd been on a purge. A smirk crept across his face as he examined a scar above his right deltoid, a souvenir of a close call on that last purge. His whole body tingled with excitement as he pulled on his boots, reliving the tortures of his last victims. Yes, he thought as he pulled on his pristine white gloves. His hands had been clean of innocent blood for far too long.

"Prince Vegeta, sir!" came the voice of a palace servant. Vegeta looked up to see the man enter his quarters.

"What," demanded Vegeta, lifting his hand and already forming a ki ball, ready to blast the man at a moment's notice.

"Sorry for the early disturbance your highness but your father demands your immediate presence in the Council Room." Vegeta released a small blast of energy, instantly vaporizing the servant. Almost instantly another servant appeared in time to see Vegeta standing over the scorching remains, clicking his fingers menacingly.

"Clean that up," he snapped. "I don't want this mess in my room." The servant's eyes widened as he realized the small pile of ash on the floor was one of his workmates. The servant intelligently said nothing as the arrogant prince strode from the room.

* * *

The War Council looked up as a slamming door alerted them to the presence of Prince Vegeta. It was barely 6am but already the council was underway.

"You're late," King Vegeta boomed from the head of the table.

"And?" Vegeta prompted. His father glowered at but said nothing as his son took his seat at his father's right hand.

"As we were saying," Srinak continued, "I believe that Vegeta-sei is definitely on the up as far as power within the quadrant goes, however-"

"Of course it is," Vegeta growled. "That's what happens when a real leader gets power. Despite the near obliteration of our planet only eight years ago, to the day, Vegeta-sei currently boasts supreme and sole power in the Northern and Eastern quadrants. The Saiyan Empire is 40% larger than it was at the Downfall those eight years ago and I am personally responsible for establishing over a third of that myself."

"Yes, Cantor Vegeta. No-one is denying you _garsnr_, your fighting skill and prestige, nor your reputation as the most ruthless killer this side of Vegeta VII," Kortinar told him. "However all that Srinak is saying, I assume, is that we must address the issue of Buradea. They have been quiet since the Downfall, however they need dealing to. They attacked us once and there is no reason to believe they won't come back and attempt to complete what they left unfinished last time. I believe we have been lucky until now, and it is only a matter of time." The council nodded in agreement.

"Precisely," Srinak offered. Vegeta snarled and rolled his eyes back. Kortinar was a long time friend of his father's, going back to the King's purging days, as well as being Head of the War Council. He had been much like Prince Vegeta in his day, arrogant and pig headed. Consequently, he knew the prince a lot better than the younger Vegeta liked to admit. Vegeta respected his father's old friend, but Srinak was a spineless was a spineless worm whom Vegeta would like nothing more than to erase from existence. His position as head of the Vegeta-sei Council was somewhat redundant, as the only council that ever met was the War Council.

"Buradea is of no threat to Vegeta-sei. We were unprepared last time. We won't make that mistake again," Peris offered. "However the planet would make an excellent addition to the catalogue for this year's sale at Volrun. We have a few planets already, but Buradea would definitely be a category above."

"Kortinar is right," King Vegeta stated. "We talked about this last time. The purging squad must go to Buradea. Within a week, during the Dentoyoru. No one will expect an attack during our planet's holiday season."

"I will go," Vegeta offered, more of a statement than a question.

"Vegeta, the purge is during the Dentoyoru.." Srinak trailed off. Vegeta glared venom at the man.

"I believe the decision is that of the council's to make, not yours, _Sirinak_." The man twitched. His name was spoken with a silent 's', said 'Rinak', but the young prince found twisted delight in mispronouncing the politician's name, infuriating the spineless Saiyan to no end.

"Your application is noted Vegeta. The council will now discuss the purging squad," Kortinar said with a note of finality. Vegeta stood up, moving the whole table and unseating Srinak as he did so. The prince strode from the room without a backwards look, his father shaking his head as he went.

* * *

Vegeta knelt down in front of the woman's statue. As he paused, he looked up at her. Her face looked the same engraved in stone as it did engraved in his memory. He stood, his gaze not leaving the woman's face.

"You have her eyes, Vegeta. You are more like her than you can ever know." Vegeta looked over his shoulder to see Bardock standing behind him. His father's advisor and prophecies minister, Bardock was one of the few people who made Vegeta uncomfortable, with his uncanny perception of events and rare gift to see things before they happened.

"What do you want, old man?"

"Your mother was a good friend of mine," he said as he stepped forward. "You are not the only one who remembers the Downfall as her death day as well." Vegeta fell silent. "She was a wonderful woman, Vegeta." Vegeta snorted.

"She's dead. She might have been wonderful but she was clearly weak. Don't kid yourself, Bardock. I am here for appearance's sake alone. I care little for my mother or her memory, nor anyone else's opinions for that matter. You of all people should know that. If I was not attempting to please my father and be named in the Buradean purging squad, I would not be here."

"Well I'm glad Portar has taught you something of the importance of appearances, my Prince, if nothing else." Vegeta shot the older man a hateful glare and left the tomb without a word.

'Virt Narya," Bardock whispered after the prince had left, sinking to his knee. He repeated himself in the common tongue. "Queen Narya. Forgive your son. He knows little of the world, and unfortunately, less of the future that awaits him. I fear that this arrogance will lead him down a dark path, one from which the escape is difficult to see." Bardock looked up at the statue of the queen. "The planet has not been the same since your death and the Downfall my queen. I advise your husband as best I can, but dark times are upon us and the king is loath to accept it. The old prophecy is upon us, my queen." Bardock sighed as he stood, eye level with the queen's statue. He kissed the stone monument on the cheek. "Your wisdom is sorely missed, my queen. As are you." He bowed again, whispering "Virt Narya," again quietly, and walked slowly from the tomb.

* * *

Vegeta grunted, furious as he punched the opponent in front of him. The poor third class warrior had no chance against the prince, trying desperately to fend off the infuriated man in front of him.

"Er, Prince Vegeta, my liege – "

"Shut up!" yelled Vegeta as he threw a ki ball at the man. The third class dodged, beginning to fear for his life as the supposed sparring match began descending into a desperate attempt to stay alive.

Vegeta seemed out of control as he threw punch after punch at the despairing warrior. Though his face betrayed little emotion, inside the prince raged. He had just come from the council room where his father had informed him he had been removed from the Buradean purging squad, claiming the prince was required at home. Vegeta hadn't been on a purge in close to a year, and the promise of blood in Buradea had been perceived by the callous prince as much needed rain in a seemingly endless drought. The fact that his father saw fit to remove him from the purging squad without consulting the prince had left him with a very sour taste in his mouth and a significant amount of unexpended energy, unfortunately for the warrior in front of him.

"Vegeta!" came a voice. The prince stopped in mid punch and turned, infuriated, ready to tear the life out of whoever it was who had the audacity to address him so informally. He stopped when he saw his childhood minder and fighting mentor, Nappa. Though Vegeta's strength was far superior to that of Nappa's, the tall bald Saiyan could boast position as the only being the Saiyan Prince respected.

"Nappa-kar," Vegeta bowed respectfully, employing the Saiyavor suffix for one above his station. Saiyavor, despite being the official language of Vegeta-sei was not commonly used, and instead the universal language of Ergo was used. However Vegeta's knowledge of the language was greater than that of most, representative of his position in the monarchy.

"Vegeta. Your father asked me to come and speak to you." Vegeta frowned, turned to his sparring partner, dismissed the relieved man with a nod and turned back to his mentor.

"Nappa-kar, I don't know what my father sent you to talk to me about but surely you cannot expect me to see reason if it is regarding my removal from the purging squad." Nappa sighed as he slid back into a fighting stance.

"Vegeta, your father is in a difficult position. Dentoyoruu is upon us, and it is important that you are here for it." Vegeta slammed his fist into the training room wall, destroying most of it.

"Damn it Nappa! I am the Prince of the Saiyans! I have not shed another's blood in several months. I refuse to sit around for political appearances while a bunch of brats bathe in one another's blood, when my own hands have been clean for far too long." He launched himself at Nappa, careful not to use his ki. When Vegeta had finally exceeded Nappa's strength by a large amount, they had decided it was best for them to fight without their ki, in which case Nappa still had the advantage of skill and was still able to teach the prince.

Nappa sighed as he blocked his prince's attack.

"Ok, Vegeta, let me speak with your father again." Vegeta smirked.

"With all due respect, you can talk to him all you like. With or without his permission, it doesn't matter to me. I'm going on that purge if I have to take the whole planet by my own strength." Nappa smirked back.

"Cantor Vegeta, you know as well as I or any other that if you lead a purge, the troops will follow you without question. It has been such since _your_ time at the Dentoyoru all those years ago." Vegeta smirked.

"Leit, Nappa. You are right." Vegeta stretched his arms out in front of him. "Rally the troops. We leave at dawn. If the King wants me here for Dentoyoru, then so be it. But on my terms. We'll lead the squad in early, to hell with my father and his plans." Vegeta knew that Nappa's unwavering loyalty to him would ensure his father would hear nothing of the decision to put the plan forward until it was far too late for him to interfere.

"Leit, Vegeta-kor. As you wish." The tall bald man bowed to his prince and left the room without a further word. Vegeta turned around, whispered 'aut', quietly under his breath and a ball of fiery energy shot from his hand, absorbing the servant on the other side of the training room. Vegeta closed his eyes and inhaled as the smell of burning flesh engulfed his senses. The prince's blood ran thick with desire as he thought of the bloodfest that lay ahead. And then after the purge, despite his claims to Nappa that he cared little for the Dentoyoru, the anticipation of the night of blood excited the prince's primal instinct. Vegeta looked up as he left the training room, to see the waxing, almost full moon burning in its red glory. Vegeta smirked. It was going to be an excellent week.

* * *

The young woman smiled as she looked up at the man next to her. He smiled back. The two of them were sitting beneath a tree in a large open field. The local village lay just to the North, from which sounds could still be heard in the quiet of the falling night. The woman was dressed in a simple, plain, pale green dress, hung on a petite yet shapely frame. The man next to her was clearly of a different race. His skin was much darker than hers, a creamy, tanned, caramel-chocolate colour, starkly contrasting her milky white skin. He was dressed in body armour, red spandex covered by a silver chestplate and boots. He lay back against the tree, the woman leaning back against his chest, his legs either side of her. The woman rested her head against his chest as he kissed her cheek.

"Bulma?" he whispered as she reached over and picked a blade of red grass.

"Yea, Rainin?" she said quietly. The man paused for a second, seemingly unable to find the words.

"Bulma, will you marry me?" Her eyes widened as she turned to face the man next to her.

"But-but," she stopped. "But Rainin. You leave in two hours. You're going to war. How will I know... I mean what if you don't..." she trailed off.

"How do you know I'm coming home? You don't. But I want to know you'll still be here. Not this time. Every time. And I want you to know that I'll always fight my hardest to come home to you. From the moment I saw you, when you arrived on this planet, I've known you were special. I love you, Bulma." Bulma had arrived after she had been rescued as a young child from the height of an inter-planetary war. A well known court family had taken her as their own and raised her. Bulma knew very little about her home planet, except that it was called Earth. Due to its existence on the outskirts of the universe, she had been able to find very little information. Despite this, Bulma had grown up on Buradea regarding it as her home more than Earth. Rainin's family had been close family friends of Bulma's adoptive parents, and the two had been close since they were young, growing closer as they went through their teenage years. They had begun dating two years prior.

"But your parents... Rainin, they'd never allow it." Rainin was a first class soldier, a well respected warrior whose parents resided deeply in tradition. They liked Bulma, she had been like a daughter to them for nearly ten years. But she doubted they would accept the inter-species marriage. She doubted they even approved of the current relationship she and Rainin had.

"They'll come around. They really care about you Bulma. And so do I. In time they'll come to accept it. I promise." Bulma's eyes filled with tears as Rainin sat there, anticipating her reaction. Bulma threw herself at him and he wrapped his arms around her back.

"Yes," she cried. "Yes Rainin, of course. Yes." Rainin's face broke into a smile. The two of them stood up. They shared a passionate kiss, smiling as they broke apart.

Without warning, the siren went up. Bulma looked up at the two suns.

"You're not due to leave for at least another hour or so. Nearly two. What's that for?" Rainin looked towards the capital city, frowning.

"I don't know." Rainin was only 24, five year's Bulma's senior, but he was already a commander in the Buradean army. If anything major was happening, he should have been alerted. As if on cue, his pager went off. Bulma had designed the pagers, and quickly unclipped it off Rainin's belt and opened the message.

"Umm... Rainin?" He took the pager from her. His face paled. The two of them looked at each other. Bulma ran her hand through Rainin's navy blue hair. He cupped her cheek in his hand and gently kissed her on the lips.

"I love you," he whispered. And just like that, he was gone. Into the air, towards the main Buradean city, just as a deafening explosion rocked the planet. Bulma looked back down at the pager Rainin had handed back to her, and stood up, ready to head for the capital.

BURADEA UNDER ATTACK. ALL SOLDIERS REPORT TO CAPITAL IMMEDIATELY.

* * *

The Saiyan Prince breathed deeply and closed his eyes, listening to the screaming that surrounded him. Below, the cities burned, their citizens with them. A man flew over and hovered next to Vegeta.

"Cantor Vegeta," came the voice. The prince looked up at the use of his title in their native language. Next to him was Radditz, eldest of Bardock's children. Bardock was a member of his father's Council, the first male seer in many generations. Vegeta loathed the world of prophecy and visions that Bardock used to form his opinions, and as such had very little respect for the man's offspring.

"Radditz. Why are you not down there?" Vegeta snarled. The man was strong, that was clearly shown by his position on the King's purging squad, but he was a third class none the less. Though, Vegeta reasoned, that wasn't entirely true. Though the man had been born in third class, his father, Bardock, had been elevated to first class during the early years of his reign, so Radditz was also technically first class. Vegeta's upper lip curled.

"I beg your pardon my Cantor, but we have struck some trouble in the capital. It appears the army was stationed there, ready to mobilize and the squad is having a hard time winning them over. It's not a strong force my Lord, but their numbers are great." Vegeta glared at the man.

"And you lot call yourselves Saiyans. You're despicable." Without another word the prince burst into a purple flame and rocketed down towards the capital.

Vegeta growled in disgust as he landed amongst his fellow warriors. One of them fell to the blade of a native as the prince touched down. Vegeta held up his hand and blasted the native.

"Cantor! My prince!" one of the warriors yelled. Vegeta ignored him, walking through the destruction. Buildings lay in ruins, smoking, fires burned in the streets. Bodies lay scattered through the town, Saiyan and Buradean alike. Vegeta's face twisted into a sick smirk.

"We all look the same in pieces," he mused as he kicked a Buradean carcass. They were not that different from the Saiyans, though their skin was more caramel, and their hair unnatural shades of blue and green. The prince looked up as the fighting raged around him. It was clear to see that the Saiyans were losing.

"Saiyans!" Vegeta roared. The fighting stopped as the prince's voice reverberated off the walls. "You are a race of warriors! Show these primitive beasts why the name Saiyan strikes fear into the heart of all those who hear it!" Vegeta shot through the air in a blur, ripping the head off a Buradean soldier with his bare hands. The man's head remained in Vegeta's hand, the face twisted in a look of shock as the life drained from it, thick and purple. The Saiyans gave a heartened war cry, and the battle began again.

The prince's words seemed to have done their work. The Saiyans fought with a strength rekindled, ripping the Buradean army to pieces.

Vegeta suddenly found himself confronted by a soldier. The man was tall, strong, and young, only a few years older than the prince.

"You have no business here," the man growled, lowering his head and glowering at the Saiyan prince. Vegeta laughed.

"Quite the opposite. We have much business on this planet. Or rather with it. I'm sure it will fetch a handsome price at sales this year." The Buradean's face paled.

"You're purging the planet... to sell it?" Vegeta laughed coldly.

"Of course. What other use could we have for this mudball?" The man looked rattled.

"Is there no compromise we can reach? I am a Commander, I know that my regiment, at least, will swear loyalty to the Saiyans if you spare us and allow us to remain on our planet. We will fight for you, Prince Vegeta, if you only give us the chance."

A cold, hollow laugh echoed through the battlefield.

"Take a look around, worm. You are losing. What would our warrior race possibly have to gain from your service?"

"How about intelligence?" came another voice. The two men whirled to its source, seeing a young woman walking towards them.

"Bulma!" the Buradean choked out. He looked fearfully from the woman to his opposition. Luckily for the man, Vegeta was in no hurry to kill either of them. He had relished the fighting at the beginning, and filled his hands with the blood of thousands of Buradeans. He was now more interested in the arrival of the woman than shedding more blood. The woman, Bulma her name was, stood next to the Buradean. She turned to the prince and spoke with an authority beyond her appearance.

"The Buradeans are an intelligent race, technologically advanced and fierce in their fighting. They would serve as an excellent addition to the Saiyan's ranks." Vegeta observed the woman as she spoke. She was attractive, yet clearly not of Buradean descent, resembling a Saiyan more than a Buradean, though she too had blue hair as the Buradean did. She was clearly the Buradean's mate. He could see it in the body language, and smell the fear he harboured, fear that the prince would hurt the woman.

"Bulma, please leave, I'm begging you-"

Vegeta laughed again.

"Begging. Pathetic." In an instant he was beside the Buradean. He held the man in a chokehold, his fingers closing around the throat.

"Please," gasped out the Buradean. "Please, don't hurt her. I'll do anything." Vegeta smirked.

"A race who begs has no position in the ranks of the Saiyan army." The man grimaced as Vegeta's fingers tightened around his throat.

"No!" The woman named Bulma screamed. "Rainin!" She launched herself at the prince, grabbing his wild mane of hair. Vegeta swatted her away with his other hand, smashing her weak body against a wall. He snarled at her.

"I was going to kill him quickly. But for that, it can wait." Vegeta glared at the woman as she pulled herself off the ground. "And you can watch." He picked the woman up by the arm as she attempted to fight him off. Vegeta wrapped his fingers around her hair and yanked her head up, forcing her to look at the Buradean. Tears welled in her eyes as the Buradean smiled at her from Vegeta's chokehold.

Quick as a flash, Vegeta switched his hold from the man's throat to his arm and, as the man tried to fight him off, Vegeta twisted his arm behind his back until it gave a sickening crack. The Buradean screamed, as did the woman. She began sobbing as her mate grimaced. Vegeta smirked as he watched them. He then switched his hold to the man's other arm and did the same thing. The Buradean's face was growing paler. Bulma cried out.

"Please... please don't hurt him anymore. Take me instead!" Vegeta snorted and threw her on the ground.

"As if I would want you, woman." He powered up a small, rice grain sized ball at the end of his finger, and pointed it at the groaning Buradean whom he still held by the arm. Rainin continued trying to fight Vegeta off, as Vegeta pushed him backwards and brought his boot down across the man's throat. He pointed the beam of light at the man's chest and released it.

The blast was not enough to kill him. Instead, the laser-like beam burned through the man's chest. Vegeta traced the beam down his torso, then back and forth across his stomach in zig-zag formation as the man writhed and screamed.

"Rainin!" Bulma sobbed out, scrambling across the ground towards him. Vegeta kicked out at her, catching her in the face and causing a torrent of blood to come forth from her nose. The prince knelt down beside the Buradean, whose body was racking with convulsions. He put his hand next to the man's head, causing him to shiver. A scream pierced the air as Vegeta ripped his ear off and threw it at the feet of the woman. She cried out, and blood began to stream from the side of Rainin's head. Vegeta turned, smiled at the woman and shoved his hand through the stomach of the Buradean with a sick squelching noise.

"Rainin!" the woman screamed again, as Vegeta stood back, the woman threw herself at the dying man lying on the ground. His purple blood streamed from the wound in his stomach where Vegeta had driven his fist through. The Saiyan Prince shook his hand, spraying the excess blood across the ground.

As the woman sobbed across the body of her mate, Radditz landed next to his prince again.

"Cantor, we are victorious. The planet is taken. The capital has fallen, and as we speak the troops are spreading to the villages." Vegeta nodded.

"Send word that all able-bodied woman and children are to be captured and transported to Volrun for the auction. Any men, boys older than ten, cripples and elderly are to be disposed off. Leave the fourth regiment behind to clean the planet up. Destroy any manmade objects, the planet is to be reverted back to its natural state before the Volrun sale next month. It will fetch a higher price like that." Radditz nodded.

"As you wish my liege." The two of them cast their eye to two on the ground, the failing body of the Buradean, Rainin, and the sobbing form of his alien mate, Bulma. Vegeta smirked, pleased with his day's work and blasted into the sky, ready to return to the ship. He had three days to make it back to Vegeta-sei before the Dentoyoru began.


	2. Dentoyoru

Chapter 2: Dentoyoru

"Vegeta!" came the infuriated voice of the King. The young prince smirked, a satisfied look on his face as he entered the main hall of the palace. The king strode angrily past the Saiyan nobles who were congregated there and grasped his son around the throat with one hand, slamming him into the wall. "You brat!" the king roared, the very walls cowering in fear as his anger consumed the room. The prince smirked and shoved his father away. "How dare you!" yelled the king. "How _dare_ you!" His voice had dropped to a deadly whisper that would have struck fear into the fiercest Saiyan. Vegeta didn't move.

"How dare I, father?" The prince's eyes narrowed into an accusatory glare. "How dare you. I am the Prince of Saiyans. I suffered more than most at the hands of the Buradeans eight years ago. And _you _in your conceited _wisdom_ decide to remove me from the purging squad?" Vegeta snorted. "And you ask how dare _I_? I had more right that any Saiyan to shed their purple blood, and I have done so. You are blind, old man. Your obsession with politics and appearance will be your downfall, at my hand." Vegeta spoke the last sentence in a tone of warning. The king did not flinch. The both of them knew Vegeta was not yet strong enough to take on the king and win, though both also knew that the days until he could were numbered.

"Vegeta, you know your presence is demanded at the Dentoyoru-" He stopped, seemingly unnerved by his son's cold high laugh.

"By who?" the prince laughed. "Who can demand anything of me? I returned for Dentoyoru of my own accord. The planet is done with so quit stressing old man. The normal lot have been rounded up, Razum's crew remained behind to transport them to Volrun for the sales. The planet will be ready for the sales too, though I put claim to half the profits."

King Vegeta's hand shot out smashed his son in the face. Vegeta recoiled at the punch which had caught him somewhat off guard and roundhouse kicked his father in the side. The king responded, flying back at his son and landing his foot in Vegeta's chest, knocking the air out of his son.

"You are not king yet, Vegeta. And until you are I suggest you keep your tongue and your ego in check." The king glowered at his son. Vegeta regained his breath and drew up to eye level with his father.

"My time is fast approaching," he hissed at the older man. "Faster than you realize." With that, the Saiyan prince turned and strode from the hall, slamming the giant wooden door behind him, rendering it into splinters.

King Vegeta didn't move as he watched his son go until he felt someone come up next to him. He turned to see Bardock.

"He is young," Bardock commented. "And though he is fool hardy and pig headed, he is strong in his person and his body." The king's advisor turned to face the other man. "I would mend the relationship with your son before it is too late," Bardock warned as he looked the king in the eye. "He is arrogant, yes, but he is right. The time is fast approaching when he shall hold the reins to the kingdom." Bardock turned to look out the door. "And I for one am not entirely sure that the empire is ready for him."

* * *

Vegeta breathed deeply as the anger coursed through his veins, a combination of the run-in with his father and the approaching Dentoyoru, the moon and its power messing with his temper among other things. The prince strode into the Raisem, the giant building which housed the arena where that evening's Battle Royale would be held, the opening celebration of the Dentoyoru. He strode quickly and quietly through the over-large, over-grand structure, down into the bottom levels which housed that evening's competitors.

The Raisem had been constructed many years ago by Vegeta XII, nearly a hundred kings prior to his father. Vegeta the Seventh was notoriously the cruellest king to have emerged, and as such was revered by even the Saiyans alive today. Vegeta the Seventh believed that his race was becoming weak, and in attempt to strengthen them up, he was responsible for the running of the inaugural Battle Royale. Every year, on the eve of Dentoyoru, all the five-year old Saiyans on the planet were gathered together and pitted against each other, the youngsters unable to control their insatiable blood lust that thrived under the full moon of Dentoyoru. The Saiyan cubs fought until only thirty of the several hundred remained. Those who survived to the end were allowed to survive. The aim of the Battle Royale was to weed out weak blood, and the Saiyan race had continuously flourished under the selection pressures of the Royale.

The survivors of the Royale were then put into an induced sleep for the rest of Dentoyoru, while the rest of the planet thrived in their primitive, Oozaru state.

Vegeta looked up as he entered the competitor's room, and was immediately swamped by hundreds of five year old Saiyan children. The prince smirked as he looked down at them. In less than six hours, nearly all of the children would be dead. He wondered if they realized.

At the front of the room stood Torat, the Royale Co-Ordinator, who monitored the children in the day leading up to Dentoyoru.

"Cantor!" the children yelled. Vegeta turned to look at Torat.

"At least you've been teaching the brats to use my proper title," he growled. Torat nodded.

"Leit, Cantor. Of course." Vegeta observed the children in the room. This year's crop was strong. Many of the children were larger than normal, and their tiny ki's buzzed with a surprising strength. It was going to be an interesting night.

"Torat-kar?" came one of the children's voices.

"Leit, brat? What is it."

"What is leit?" the child asked. Torat frowned.

"It means yes in Saiyavor you ignorant brat. Clearly of third class descent," he growled. Vegeta smirked. Torat was a man Vegeta could understand. "Is that all brat?" the child in question, a small young girl, shook her head. "What is Dentoyoru?" Torat growled again. The prince frowned in disapproval.

"I will find the parents of this child and slaughter them for their ignorance," he snarled, feeling his anger at the child's pitiful knowledge bubble inside him.

"Dirty third classes," Torat agreed. "As if their brat's lousy breeding isn't enough, they don't take the time to teach them the most basic of Saiyan history." He sighed frustratedly. "How many others don't know the meaning of Dentoyoru?" Across the room close to eighty hands went up. The prince snarled.

"I will not have brats fighting on the eve of Dentoyoru if they don't know the significance of it. Explain it Torat," Vegeta demanded.

"Very well. Vegeta-sei is a very young planet in the history of things, though we have done much in our short life. The Dentoyoru goes back to the days of Vegeta-sei's darkness, around 25,000 years ago. Back then, the Saiyans were Oozaru all year round, excepting two days when the moon disappeared behind the Kiyama Ranges and we dropped out of the Ancient Form. You all know what Oozaru is.." he paused. The children nodded and Torat sighed, relived. "Well there is something to be pleased about. Anyway. The Saiyan people lived as Oozaru for around 10,000 years, confined to our planet by our inability to maintain this form and the associated intelligence. Although they could control themselves to some degree, they were nowhere near their potential. As I said, about 10,000 years into our existence a Saiyan named Vegeta was born." The children looked away from Torat's story to the prince, standing in the doorway, arms folded. Vegeta glared at the children and they turned back to Torat. Vegeta, too, turned back. He had heard this story many a time, been forced to memorize it as a child, by Srinak of all people.

"Anyway. Vegeta had the initiative to destroy the moon. The Saiyan people were able to maintain their humanoid form, and as such flourished, their numbers rising steadily. As they spread across the planet, they discovered what is now the capital city, Kairon. A natural fortress, thousands of kilometres from where they hailed from, Kairon as you know is set in a huge clearing at the top of the Eastern Kiyama Ranges. When they discovered it, the Saiyans had not learned to fly so rock bridge provided an excellent means to channel invaders to a point where the numbers meant nothing."

Vegeta thought of Kairon as Torat told his story. The city was carved into the side of a cliff-face, surrounded by an abyss, thousands of kilometres deep and hundreds of metres in diameter. In the old days, before flight, the only entrance to the city had been the thin winding rock trail through the middle of the abyss. It had been a strategic move for a flightless population.

"So Kairon was established as a capital of sorts within a year of the Saiyans discovering it. The Saiyans quickly discovered their secret weapon; every time they were injured and survived the injuries, they grew stronger. The closer they came to death, the stronger they were when they healed. It was in these early years at Kairon, that someone discovered that Vegeta-sei, known then still as Saru-sei, had another moon. The Saiyans had not noticed it before as the mountains had shielded it from view when they lived on the other side of the planet. The mountains hid the moon almost permanently from Kairon, excepting two days every three years. For those two days, the Saiyans could return to the Ancient Form. Vegeta, who had become an unofficial ruler after his role in destroying the moon, was very old by this time, pushing 250, which is old even by Saiyan standards. Vegeta was advised to destroy the moon, but he declined the request, claiming it would be good for the Saiyans of future generations to remember where they came from, and expressed a desire not to deprive them of the great release supplied by the Oozaru transformation. Many of the other Saiyans, fanciful of their newfound intelligence, believed Vegeta was wrong, but kept themselves quiet, passing on their reservations and arguments to further generations. These arguments were the source of the Great War in later years, but that's another history lesson altogether. But there you have it. For two days every three years we celebrate Dentoyoru and remember, on the night of tradition, who we are, where we came from, and what it means to be a Saiyan, an Oozaru, a _Svnklnr_."

Vegeta raised his head at the use of the word Svnklnr.

"You use our true name," Vegeta questioned. Torat nodded.

"Leit, Cantor. Yes, prince, I believe that the word is far more powerful than those names we have accrued in Ergo. Svnklnr isn't our name, my prince. Svnklnr is who we are, it is what we are. Svnklnr is _us._"

Vegeta nodded. Torat was right. The ancient name of the Saiyan was known by few these days, and those who knew it were seemingly those in touch with their true Saiyan nature. Clearly, Torat was one of them.

The children sat, watching Torat intently, waiting to see if he was going to say more. Torat glared at them.

"Story time's over mongrels! Clear off! Go fight!" The children disbanded quickly and settled into their little sparring matches. Torat turned to Vegeta. "I trust we will see you at Dentoyoru this evening, Prince Vegeta?" Vegeta nodded curtly. "Excellent. Well I beg your pardon, my prince but I must leave. The brats need their evening meal, the fresh kills should get their blood lust running." The man bowed and left Vegeta, and the prince turned in the opposite direction, leaving the Raisem for his chambers to shower and change.

* * *

Dentoyoru came and went in a frenzy of blood, rage, lust and fighting. When Vegeta awoke the morning following his descent back into humanoid form, it was to a relative headache and sense of complete exhaustion. It was barely dawn when the Saiyan prince rose, forced to dry himself after a shower without his ki. The two days of Dentoyoru left even the strongest Saiyan drained of energy for at least a week. The Saiyan Council had long ago realized the danger of Dentoyoru, it provided the perfect opportunity for attack. The whole race was as helpless as prey animals in the time following the Dentoyoru.

Vegeta walked silently from the palace, down the levels of the city and into the Raisem. When he entered Vegeta found the _vortlrns_; Saiyan criminals who had had their tails removed as punishment; removing the over-heated, stinking corpses that remained from the Battle Royale on the opening eve of Dentoyoru. The Raisem stunk to the heavens, decomposing corpses and blood mingled with the stench of living scavengers. Vegeta snorted as he kicked at the corpse of a child, one he recognized as the same third class girl who had asked Torat about the origins of Dentoyoru before its initiation.

"Maybe if you were more of a proper Saiyan you would have stood a chance," he snarled, as he booted the corpse to one of the tailless. The soldier caught the corpse without a word and continued about his work.

"My Prince! Cantor!" came a voice. Vegeta turned around to see Torat making his way across the gory carpet. Vegeta nodded at the other man. Torat had been a very strong warrior in his day, hence his ability to be up and about only hours after the descent. "Unfortunate, is it not? The Battle Royale certainly took an interesting turn this year." Vegeta snorted again.

"If they'd been strong enough they would have survived. Clearly, the year this brood were born was a year of weakness." Torat nodded solemnly. Near the end of the Battle Royale, one of the children had put on a mind-blowing display of power. The child's friend had been killed during the fight, sending the child into a maddened Oozaru like rage. The child had powered up to a phenomenal level and released a planet shattering burst of energy which had destroyed all but eleven of the children, and nearly a hundred of the weaker adult Saiyans who had been watching the show. Unfortunately, the child had also destroyed itself in its rage.

"Any word on the child's identity?" Vegeta asked. Torat nodded.

"He was a first class of third class descent. Gohan was his name." Vegeta frowned.

"Hardly a Saiyan name for such a powerful brat."

"Leit. Son of a Saiyan named Kakkarot I believe." Vegeta frowned again, the name ringing a bell.

"Kakkarot who?"

"Kakkarot Bardocksson." Vegeta's eyes widened a little.

"That brat? Was the grandson of Bardock?" Torat nodded.

"Yes, Prince. Firstborn child of Bardock's oldest son." Vegeta surveyed the scene in the Raisem slowly. Bardock was a warrior of third class descent, one of the ancient Mountain folk. He was the first generation of his family to venture forth from the mountains since they had retreated up there hundreds of years ago. There is no way that such power should reside in such a low class bloodline.

"What of this Kakkarot? How is his strength? Does he display the same level as his son?" Torat shrugged.

"I know not, Prince. My knowledge of Bardock's family is limited to that which I have learned since the brat's death." Torat went silent and Vegeta mused for a second.

"It is of no importance really. I have things far more important than a child of strength with no decent blood, who is dead either way." Torat nodded again.

The two Saiyans turned from their conversation as another person entered the Raisem.

"Prince Vegeta," came the voice. Vegeta glared at the Saiyan.

"Speak quickly," Vegeta snapped. His temper was short and despite his depressed ki he could easily kill the Saiyan with his bare hands.

"Sorry to interrupt my prince, but your father has sent urgent word regarding the Volrun sales-"

"I am well aware of the Volrun sales. Get to the point or I'll lose my patience," Vegeta growled. The servant nodded shakily.

"They have rescheduled the sales my prince. They begin in two days." Vegeta swore angrily. It was lucky for the servant that the prince's ki was beyond his reach, or the servant's life may have ended sooner than the lowly Saiyan had anticipated.

"Off with you," snapped Torat. The servant turned and scuttled from the Raisem. "Why would they have moved sales?" Torat questioned Vegeta. Vegeta frowned.

"I don't know, and I don't care. Vegeta-sei has very little to sell this year. Buradea and its slaves are the top lots, a few minor planets. It's hardly worth my time." Vegeta turned, without another word and strode angrily from the Raisem.

* * *

Vegeta stepped out of the ship, onto Volrun's surface, feeling the familiar sensation of floating that always accompanied the trip to the Planet of Auctions, instilled by the minimal gravity; a tenth of that on Vegeta-sei. The prince collected himself and surveyed the planet before.

Once, Volrun had not been that different from Vegeta-sei, harbouring similar nature and life forms. However since its takeover by Artsans, a race of slave traders and merchants, the planet had fallen into disrepair and been overtaken by pollution. A thick grey smog hung low, against a backdrop of brown-orange sky, ruined by the excrement of the planet's many factories. The acrid smells burned Vegeta's nose and he could even taste the putrid elements on his tongue. Many of the Saiyans surrounding him appeared to be crying, the intense levels of pollution assaulting their eyes. Vegeta said nothing and headed forward across the boarding dock into the main Volrun complex, accompanied by his father and followed by the many servants and guards. There they met with the Chief of the slave traders an Artsan, Normac was his name. Like most people he encountered, Vegeta despised the man. The prince's upper lip curled as the man and his father exchanged formalities. The talking lasted for only a few moments, before Normac turned and gestured for the Saiyans to follow them.

"It is a mark of your inexperience, Vegeta, that you have the audacity to act with such hostility around-" came the voice of his father in a frustrated whisper.

"And why should I not? The man is filth not fit to shine the shoes of any Saiyan, let alone one such as myself." Vegeta glared at the man in front of him. "If he fears me, it is rightly so."

"You think too much of yourself Vegeta."

"And you think not enough of yourself old man. You are the weakest Saiyan King to have emerged since the early days."

King Vegeta uttered no response as Normac lead them outside back into the foul atmosphere. They emerged into the middle of dusty yards. Thin, dirt paths wove between rows and rows of cages that lined the sides. Stacked three cages tall, but only one deep so that all the contents could be seen, each cage contained one slave, or occasionally a mother and babe. A lot number was pinned to the door of the cage. Normac began to talk as he led the Saiyans through the jungle of cages. Vegeta barely listened as he observed the contents of the cages.

"..Best lot we've had in years," came Normac's voice. "Lots of high quality cattle, and in large quantities as well. Many strong planets have fallen, so many of the stronger planets are planning to purchase the higher quality cattle..."

Vegeta looked into one cage and saw a small child, no more than three years old, screaming its tiny little lungs out. A cruel smirk pulled at Vegeta's lips as he watched the child scream, no doubt for its mother. It had creamy chocolate skin, offset by forest green hair, one of the Buradean children. Vegeta was pleased to see that the fruits of their purge had made it to Volrun in time.

Vegeta kept walking as his father, Normac and the other Saiyans continued through their lots.

"..Very impressed with your horde, King Vegeta. The late addition of Buradea and its livestock to the catalogues should yield a handsome reward for you. Many of our top buyers have had their eye on Buradea for a number of years. You should be pleased with how it sells."

"What of the stock? Any word on how the buyers feel about them?"

"Aye, the buyers are pleased my lord. The Buradean woman are very strong, and reputedly hard to break. Few harems in the quadrant or beyond boast Buradean concubines. The chance to own such rarities has brought buyers from far and wide." The King smirked at Normac's words.

"Take me to these women. I want to see my stock for myself." Normac nodded and quickened the pace as he walked hurriedly past the seemingly endless rows of cages. Since he was a young boy Vegeta had travelled to Volrun sales with his father. It was a spectacular sight. Beings from every planet, race and walk of life were caged there. Though top vendor's such as Vegeta-sei culled their lots before sending them to Volrun to ensure on the highest quality stock reached the sales, many others were not so picky. As they moved through the cages Vegeta saw old men well into their last years, cripples, those who were so sick they could barely stand. He snarled in disgust at them. All these slaves were scum on the bottom of his foot. But the others were useless past pure torture subjects. They would hold for nothing else. They were the V3's, the Volrun third levels. Vegeta rarely sold stock below V1, only slipping into V2 very occasionally. Most of the V3's were a waste of time, they were better off to be killed, rather than attempt to sell such outclassed stock.

"Here you go, King Vegeta. These are the female Buradeans you own. All V1, might I add." King Vegeta paced slowly up and down in front of the cages. Most of the women had their backs turned, showing no sign of movement at the King's presence.

"You are filth, Saiyan!" came a strong voice amongst the cages.

"Who dares?" roared the king. His eyes flashed menacingly as he searched for the slave who had addressed him so. Vegeta smirked as he watched his father. King Vegeta's eyes locked on to a woman two levels up, sitting crouched in her cage, eyeing him maliciously. Her dark chocolate skin and ink blue eyes stared down at the king. King Vegeta smirked as he recognised the woman.

"Oh. Isn't this excellent." Vegeta looked up at the woman, and he too recognised her. She had been the queen of Buradea, a strong woman even by Buradean standards. The King smirked again and turned to Normac. "I do believe that this lot here is not for sale. She shall be an excellent addition to my private harem. I do not wish this one sold." The woman from the cage spat at the king from her lofty position. It missed.

"But my King, she will fetch a _handsome_ price my lord. She is Buradean royalty."

"Leit," King Vegeta agreed. "But it is not for sale by any negotiation. Have this lot removed from the catalogue and have its cage transported to my ship immediately." Normac seemed hesitant. As Chief, he received 10% of all the lots sold in Volrun sales which he co-ordinated. The loss of such an exceptional lot left a hole burning in the man's pocket.

"As you wish, King. And what of the young prince? Anything that captures your interest Prince Vegeta? Perhaps something from another lot... the Kurnvites have some quite _excellent_ female specimens from right across the galaxy." Vegeta raised an eyebrow. Finally, something worth his time.

"Very well, Artsan. Show me the Kurnvite's lots." Normac seemed pleased with Vegeta's change of mind and hurriedly lead him off in another direction. Vegeta's expert eye quickly examined the Buradean women as they walked past. All sat with their backs hunched over, facing into the back of their cages. For the moment they were covered in large, unbecoming clothes. They would however all be paraded in nothing but that with which they were born. This ensured that the buyers knew exactly what they were getting. Vegeta could see nothing of the Buradean natives except their hair, in its varying shades of blue and green. His eyes scanned past royal blues, forest greens, aqua, bright blue, lime green. It was a strange trait of their race, but only made them that more desirable to high class nobles.

Normac lead them through still more cages. By now the day was well under way and various breeds of people walked down the paths, inspecting stock. The buyers, mainly men, looked over their potential purchases with a critical eye.

Normac stopped them outside a lot of cages which looked, to Vegeta, just like every other cage they had passed. Next to them, one of Normac's workers had pulled a woman out of her cage. The shackle on the end of a long, hard, steel rod closed around her neck, and she was yanked forward. She glared at the buyer as another of Normac's men stripped her down. He then proceeded to flex her arms and legs, pointing out some of the woman's excellent features. Vegeta noticed tears sitting on the woman's eyelids. The yellow of her tears ran silently down her red cheeks as the men prodded and inspected her. Vegeta took little notice and turned back to his own lot.

"This, my prince, is the cream of the Kurnavite's lot this year." With another of the rod shackles, the man closed his tool around the woman's neck, then opened the door and pulled her forward.

Straight away Vegeta could see that the woman was not his type. She had an exquisite body, but there was something unsettling about the bright yellow skin and the extra eye in her forehead. Not only that, the woman had two mouths. She was a species which Vegeta had rarely seen. He turned and glared at Normac.

"See, Prince? Think of the wonders a woman with two mouths could perform..." Vegeta glared, closing his hand around Normac's throat in an instant.

"I have been buying at these sales for many years Normac, and still you show me stock like this?" the prince growled, dangerously low.

"But Prince-"

"No," growled Vegeta. "One more example of your insolence and I will not be so lenient." Normac nodded, swallowing, realizing he was in dangerous territory. Vegeta released the man's neck, not before it had been substantially bruised, then stood back and ordered the woman put back in her cage.

Vegeta was well known throughout slave traders as being very picky when it came to his concubines. The more they resembled a Saiyan, the better, though he refused to take a Saiyan bed mate until he was mated. The women of Vegeta's harem were all anatomically, as well as physically similar to Saiyans, save potentially hair colour. They all, were passable as Saiyans.

Normac lead them back through the paths and out the front to the Auction House. The building was magnificent. In the middle of the room was a large ring for parading the stock. At the top of the ring was a panel of auctioneers, and the rest of the ring was surrounding in ascending seating where the bidders sat. Vegeta, his father and their consort, took seats in the front row.

The next half hour before sales passed with agonizing slowness before the auctioneers finally appeared and the first lot was paraded.

Vegeta became increasingly frustrated as time passed. Sitting still was not one of his better qualities. His father attempted to engage his son in conversation but Vegeta just ignored him.

"Any of the Buradeans you wanted, son? I know they look similar enough to us, save their skin colour." Vegeta raised an eyebrow, barely interested.

"If you insist. You pick one, the likelihood of me using it at any rate is minimal." Vegeta turned his attention back to the sales where the first Buradean was being paraded, a small child, no older than four or five.

"Excellent opportunity to purchase a reputedly strong race at an age young enough to be reprogrammed," came the voice of the auctioneer.

The lots passed in at well over their reserve, much to King Vegeta's delight. The demand for Buradean labour it seemed, exceeded the supply. Able bodied men, children, women of all ages, women with babies, all sorts of lots passed through.

"Buradean woman and child here, an excellent two for one package. Not only this, the babe will make for excellent leverage and ensure obedience on behalf of the mother..."

The single women came last, clearly the most desired of the lots. The bids went crazy, driven up to double the reserve in mere minutes.

"That one looks alright, Vegeta," came the king's voice. His son didn't look up. "Looks less Buradean than the others."

"Whatever," Vegeta growled. All he could think of was returning to fight.

"Lot withdrawn!" yelled the King from the front seat. The auctioneer raised a puzzled eyebrow.

"Lot 1456, withdrawn," came the voice of the auctioneer. The slave was lead back out the entrance it had come. Vegeta looked up in time to see the Buradean head disappear behind a corner.

It was several more hours before sales finished, and Vegeta's temper was incredibly on edge.

"I don't care if the purchases are loaded!" Vegeta roared at his servants as they stood on the ramp of the Saiyan's ship. "I want this ship departing now!" He raised his hand and shot a beam of ki through the heart of the closest servant. The other Saiyans raised their eyes in fear and hurried about the ship. The engines started to whir as Vegeta stepped inside, frustrated. Woe betide whoever pissed him off next.

Perhaps he would need the services of his Buradean slave when he returned to Vegeta-sei after all.


	3. Concubine

Chapter 3

Vegeta strode angrily into his quarters, absentmindedly slamming the door behind him. He then quickly disrobed, grabbing an orange fruit on the way into the shower. He was covered in filth from Volrun, the smell of dirty slaves and pollution invading his senses.

It was as he was standing in the shower he heard a knock on his door. The Saiyan prince wrapped a towel around his waist, shook his hair up and walked to the door, opening it with a furious look on his face.

"Begging your pardon, sire," came the voice of a Saiyan slave who bowed as Vegeta appeared. "I was told to deliver this to you immediately." Vegeta frowned as the slave stepped aside, revealing a dirty, blue-haired woman with her head bowed, wrapped in a dirty sack-like blanket.

"What the hell is this," Vegeta growled, a small ki ball appearing in his right hand.

"It's the Buradean, sir. The one your father withdrew from the Volrun sales for you." Vegeta scowled harder.

"This? This is the pleasure slave?" Vegeta snarled. What a joke. The woman stank, that much was apparent. Her hair was matted together with dirt, mud covered every visible part of her. "I don't want it," Vegeta told him. "Dispose of it. Take it down to the soldier's quarters. I don't care. I don't want this filth in my chambers." As Vegeta turned to close his door, he stopped dead in his tracks.

"I would rather be used as a garrison whore than have to spend my time in the presence of a monster like you," the voice spat in a furious hissing whisper. Vegeta turned angrily around to face the woman. Her head still hung. Vegeta strode up to her.

"Do you know who you're speaking to?" he demanded. The head looked up and intense blue eyes burned back at him.

"Yes, I know exactly who I'm talking to, _Prince_ Vegeta." She said his title with such loathing and disrespect it made the prince's blood boil. It was several moments before he found the memory associated with her face. The prince laughed, cold and empty as he made the connection. A malicious smirk crossed his face. Before she realized, the prince's hand was round her throat. He pushed her chin up with his thumb.

"_Bulma._ That was your name." Vegeta smirked again. "Tell me woman," he growled as he turned her head sideways, observing her. "Do the screams of your dying lover still haunt your dreams the way they grace mine?" The woman's eyes flashed in anger as she lashed out at the prince, trying, scrambling, desperate to hurt him in any way she could.

"You're a murderer," she choked out, "you're a sadist, you're foul." She spat at him, missing him narrowly. Vegeta glared at her as he held her by her throat, her own eyes glaring back at him in defiance. Vegeta turned to the slave.

"Leave," he snarled. "I'll dispose of this myself." Vegeta yanked Bulma in by her throat and slammed the door as he threw her down on the floor. She slid slightly before stopping and turning up to look at her captor. Vegeta smirked, then turned to return to his shower, knowing her weak Buradean body would not be strong enough to open his doors and escape.

* * *

Bulma looked up as a door opened. The face of the man who had haunted her dreams for a month appeared before her, the face of the man who had destroyed her world, her husband and her life. The Saiyan glared at her.

"Get in the shower," he snarled at her. "I won't have my concubines looking like that." Bulma glared.

"I am _not _your concubine," she whispered angrily. "I will not bow to you _Prince,_ so you might as well kill me now and save yourself the trouble." With speed so quick she didn't even know he had moved, he had thrown her against the wall.

"You will bow," Vegeta growled, voice laced with such anger that the walls shook. "And you _are_ my concubine. The days where you controlled your own destiny are long gone, whore." With a single quick movement Vegeta de-robed the woman in front of him. He smirked appreciatively. "You'll do. Unfortunate that you won't make it through the night by the time I'm finished with you."

It was an odd sensation as Vegeta looked at her face and saw anger. Her eyes were completely devoid of the fear he prided himself on instilling in his slaves, or anyone who came near him for that matter. Vegeta ignored it and shoved her toward the bathroom.

"You will fear me," Vegeta growled as he disappeared into his bedroom.

* * *

_Vegeta grabbed the hand of the person next to him, his heart pounding._

"_Run!" he called. "Quick!" They were running so slowly. His legs wouldn't move quickly enough. Whatever they were running from, it was going to catch them._

_But actually, he wasn't too worried. No one could best him, even if they were caught. _

_The prince burst into his room, overtaken by an unnatural bout of laughter, shared with the person whose hand he still held as he collapsed on his bed. _

Vegeta woke with a start, a cold film on his head. He wiped it away quickly, looking around the darkened room. The noisy Buradean concubine had finally gone to sleep. Feeling slightly unsettled by the recurring dream, the prince stood, storming over to the woman, who he awoke by grabbing her hair and pulling her into standing position. She screamed and her hand went to her head as she was unceremoniously awoken. Vegeta slammed her against the wall, yanking the nightshirt she was wearing up, and dropping his pants, forcing himself upon her as he pushed her against the wall.

The concubine remained silent, except her initial scream, for the duration of the abuse. It wasn't long before Vegeta, satisfied, loosened his hold on her and left, redressing, leaving her to slide down the wall and begin crying silently as the pain rattled her.

Vegeta returned to his bed without another word, and sank back into a thankfully dreamless sleep, ignoring the sobs coming from the corner of his room.

* * *

He left before dawn the next morning, she heard him go but pretended to be asleep. Sleep found her again once the room fell silent, but it was only hours later when she awoke properly, stiff and sore; a combination of sleeping curled on the floor like a dog and the unpleasant experience he had forced upon her when he woke during the night.

"Could have at least let me share the bed," she grumbled to herself, trying to be light hearted about a matter that was becoming quickly more and more serious. She stood, looking around the large, lavish room she had not had the opportunity to appreciate the night before. It was decorated with expensive decor the Buradeans would have appreciated, all in shades of red, black and gold. Bulma's heart throbbed at the thought of her Buradean family and lover, dead or sold at the hands of the Saiyans. Her father and grandparents; they would be dead. Her mother, well Bulma knew that realistically she was probably sharing Bulma's fate, maybe worse. Despite her protesting last night that she would rather be a garrison whore than a concubine to the man who had killed her fiancé, at least Bulma would only be used to satisfy the needs of one man; not repeatedly and unendingly as a garrison whore would.

Her thoughts then turned to her little brother and sister twins. Though no blood relation or even species relation, they had been born after her family had adopted her, and so they were her siblings in every other way. Her whole body shuddered and shivered as she thought of them being caged and separated at the Volrun sales, where they undoubtedly ended up. Tears fell down her face, she hadn't said goodbye to any of them. She would never see her father again, and it would be a rare happening that she ever chanced across any of the rest of her family.

And then there was Rainin. Her darling Rainin. Her world, her dream, her everything. Bulma walked absentmindedly towards the bathroom as she thought of the fate she had seen her fiancé suffer at the hands of her master. She had lay beside his dying body long after Vegeta had left, stroking his cheek gently and clasping his hand as he apologized for not being able to protect her, as he promised her he would find her again, though they both knew it would not be until she joined him in the next world. Bulma stepped into the shower and turned the hot water on, feeling marginally better as the dirt began to drain from her hair and body.

And then the slave traders had come. Saiyans, of course. The specialist clean up regiment; responsible for rounding up those suitable for slavery and killing those who weren't; the men, the old, the crippled and the sick. This was how Bulma knew her father was dead. They had dragged her, screaming and sobbing from Rainin in his last breaths. She had called for him, begged them as their hard calloused hands had dragged her. The last memory she had of him was of his broken, battered body lying abandoned and his eyes closing as she was forcefully taken from him.

Bulma washed the dirt and grime from her body, desperate to be rid of the scent and feel of Vegeta upon her body, working hard to suppress the bile rising in her stomach at the thought of his hand's and body against hers. Not strong enough, she fell to her knees and vomited, choking out the nonexistent contents of her stomach. Despite this, she retched for another half an hour, repulsed and disgusted.

After they had taken her from Rainin she had slumped into a stupor, unsure how she got from Buradea to Volrun. She had no memory of the sales, save random flashes of memory from brief moments of lucidity. She had not come out of her comatose state until she had heard that voice. _His _voice. The voice that had torn her world down and haunted her dreams; both sleeping and waking. Hearing his voice and then seeing that satanic face had brought her out of her mental recess and ignited a fire in her, a fury at him and at the cruelty of fate which had brought her to the bed of the man who had destroyed her life.

As she sat in the bottom of the shower, hot water running over her, Bulma hugged her knees into her chest, crying as another wave of reality assaulted her already bruised body and spirit.

* * *

"A resistance?" Vegeta laughed coldly. "Who could hope to form a resistance against the Saiyan Empire?" he questioned.

"For once I am inclined to agree with Vegeta," Kortinar spoke. "We have destroyed or gained control over all those who could threaten us. I am not naive enough to think there is not more enemies of the Saiyan Empire out there, but I do question how threatening this 'resistance' actually is, and how reliable the information is," Kortinar spoke lowly, an almost invisible sideways glare at Srinak as he said this.

"The information is reliable," Srinak growled back, though without much backbone in it.

"I will have my inquisitor look into it," King Vegeta spoke. The royal inquisitor was a Saiyan whose identity was known only to the Saiyan King of the time. He had eyes and ears everywhere, but no one knew his identity. When the throne changed hands the royal inquisitor was rewarded handsomely for his work, given extra riches as a severance pay of sorts, and the new king would appoint a new inquisitor, known only to him and so on. This decision seemed to satisfy everyone, except young Vegeta of course, who merely rolled his eyes. This did not go unnoticed by Bardock, the overly perceptive seer never missed a beat.

"Have you seen anything, Bardock?" asked King Vegeta of his advisor and prophecy minister. Bardock shook his head, a slightly worried look coming across his face as his brow furrowed.

"In recent times the future has become very murky to me. Things that were once clear are not so obvious anymore. "

"What does that mean?" Peris asked. Bardock frowned deeper.

"It means that there are many decisions to be made soon. And the choices are so varied and the opportunities for choice are so intermingled I cannot see which path our future lies down. Until some of these decisions are made, I will continue to stare into the murkiness."

The council fell silent at Bardock's words.

Slowly the conversation started up again, only to head towards conclusion and the council meeting was brought to an end.

"This time fights our battles with words when we should fight with fists," growled Vegeta as they stood from the table. Kortinar gave a Saiyan attempt at a smile.

"Leit, Vegeta. The old days; the days of the Great War; they were days a Saiyan could be proud to be alive." Kortinar nodded gently to himself and then excused himself from the prince's presence. Vegeta did not hear him, as the king chose that moment to call him over.

"Vegeta, follow me please. There is someone I wish you to meet."

"Father if this is another concubine I will have nothing to do with it, the filthy excuse for a bed slave you organized for me from Volrun is still contaminating my quarters with her filth as we speak, I am quite fine without another one."

"No, Vegeta," the king spoke as he and his son walked from the council room into the main entrance room, "something you will find much more intriguing." Vegeta raised an eyebrow. More intriguing than sex? That could only be training. "Vegeta, I would like you to meet Kakkarot." Like Bulma's face the night before, the name Kakkarot rung a bell somewhere in Vegeta's memory.

"Kakkarot Bardocksson?" Vegeta questioned.

"Leit," the king answered. In front of them stood a Saiyan, easily a foot or two taller than the king and his son, with black hair that honoured the Saiyan tradition of defying the laws of gravity. Kakkarot, Vegeta surmised, definitely looked like a warrior. But so did most Saiyans.

"Cantor Vegeta," Kakkarot murmured, sinking to one knee. Vegeta smirked. Well that was a good start.

"Rise warrior. I am to understand your son fought in the Dentoyoru?" Vegeta asked. Kakkarot nodded.

"Leit, prince. He did. My son fought well, it was his own power which destroyed him."

"You should be proud," Vegeta told him. The man named Kakkarot nodded.

"Of course I am, my prince, my only regret is that he did not live long enough to pledge his power and allegiance to your service." Vegeta heard the man's words, but was not entirely sure he believed him, like something else lay beneath them.

"Kakkarot has registered his interest in becoming your training partner," King Vegeta spoke up for the first time in a while. Vegeta scoffed.

"What makes you think you are worthy to train with me, Kakkarot?"

"I ask only a chance to prove myself to you, Prince. A test. Then if you approve, a training partnership."

Vegeta mused for a moment. Some incredible amount of power definitely lay in this man's genetics, potentially untapped, but definitely there if his son's performance was anything to go by. Vegeta had not been blind during the Battle Royale. He had seen the same performance the rest of the race had.

"Very well," Vegeta answered. "If you prove yourself worthy of my time, then and only then will we train together. Lord knows my strength increase is starting to plateau in the absence of a decent, strong training partner. Kakkarot nodded and sank to his knee again.

"Thank you, Prince. I won't disappoint. I await your summons." Vegeta nodded and turned, leaving the man and his father without a further word. He wasn't going to let himself get too worked up yet, but the idea of a training partner who might actually present a challenge was pleasing to the young prince.

* * *

Vegeta returned from training late that night, not looking forward to the task of destroying the horrible Buradean concubine when he got back. As much as he enjoyed killing for sport, he was sure that his quarters would be covered in her filthy smell by now. The fact that he had raped her had been eating at the prince all day, nothing to do with morals; he had raped many women and never troubled with it. What did trouble the prince was his slippage of personal standards; the fact that he had lowered himself to taking such a filthy creature. Sure; she was Saiyan enough in her physique, but she was also filthy and horrendously unattractive with her filthy hair all over her dirt covered face. And the smell. God. Vegeta was glad no one would ever know the Saiyan Prince had slipped to that level.

So it came as a surprise when he entered his quarters and found it smelling not of filthy Buradean dirt, but almost like a Saiyan woman; slightly different, but definitely a far cry from the aroma he had left. Confused, the Saiyan prince stepped inside, eyeing the room warily. He found no notable ki signatures in the room. There was definitely not a Saiyan in the room. The Saiyan entered his sleeping quarters and found, to his unending fury, the blue haired slave sleeping wrapped up in his bedsheet. Furious at the thought of her filth being spread everywhere, Vegeta stormed forward, wrenching the blanket away from the woman, revealing her naked body and sending her tumbling onto the floor. She tried desperately to cover herself as she was again rudely woken by the Saiyan Prince.

Vegeta stopped, frozen to the spot. The figure that had rolled out of the blankets was not at all what he had expected. The body was clean, attractive, but most surprisingly; white. He had assumed that beneath the inches of mud lay the caramel skin typical of the Buradeans. But this women – she would pass for Saiyan. Albeit a Saiyan that had never seen the sun, but her milky white skin was clearly not of Buradean descent. But nor was she Saiyan; with her blue hair and slim unmuscled body.

"Well what the hell am I supposed to wear?" she growled at him, "I wasn't putting that filthy sack back on now that I'm clean." She glared at him. "And stop staring," she snapped. Vegeta glared back.

"You are my property now, woman. And if I want to stare then I will stare as long as I want. He smacked her arm away from where it was covering her breasts. The Saiyan prince smirked appreciatively as she tried quickly to cover herself again.

"I told you last night, I am not your property," she spat at him. Vegeta smirked again, leaning forward and grabbing her by the wrist, yanking her into standing position so she stood naked before him, trying to twist away.

"What are you?" he demanded. Bulma glared back at him. "Answer me!" Vegeta growled. He squeezed tighter on her wrist and to his satisfaction, saw her wince.

"Break it if you like," she told him defiantly. I'll tell you nothing." An audible snap sounded in the quiet bedroom, followed by Bulma's scream.

"Now tell me," Vegeta whispered in a voice of deathly quiet, "or I'll snap the other one too."

"No," she whispered, her voice laced with malice even through the pain. Without a second thought, Vegeta snapped her other wrist. Bulma screamed again, and it was finally too much, she began to cry. The crying quickly gave way to retching noises as she collapsed to the ground, losing consciousness, then gaining it again just as quickly. Vegeta squatted down beside her, hand around her throat as he tilted her head back.

"You have many bones. I can keep going. Or you can answer me. There are no other options."

Finally overcome he heard her say, almost so quietly he couldn't hear it, 'human'.

'_Human,'_ he thought. _'Earth.'_

"Your planet was destroyed long ago. How are you alive?"

"I was," she winced and gave a slight choke, her eyes glazed over as though she may pass out again, "rescued by the Buradeans, they raised me." Vegeta stood, seemingly satisfied with the answer. He heard the woman sigh in relief as he stood.

"Oh I wouldn't be relieved, _Bulma_," he told her as she lay on the floor, a crumpled heap. "I came back here to kill you, a filthy stinking Buradean whore not worthy to look upon the Saiyan Prince. I would not degrade myself so. Instead I find this; something worthy of the great harem of Vegeta-sei. You would fetch a handsome price at the whore auctions." Her face looked up through the pain. "No," Vegeta smirked at her. "I'm not going to sell you. And I'm not going to kill you." Realization dawned on her face. Vegeta stepped forward, closing his hand around the top half of her arm and throwing her onto his bed, ignorning her screams of pain as she landed awkwardly on her broken wrists. "No, none of those things," Vegeta mused as he stripped down, Bulma trying to climb off the bed. He grabbed her and threw her back on the bed, climbing above her, pinning her below him. He leant down and whispered quietly in her ear as she shook quietly beneath him;

"I'm going to keep you."

* * *

"_It is impossible," came the voice, high pitched and clearly worried. "The Saiyans are infallible!" A cold quiet laugh filled the dark room where no faces were visible._

"_Infallible? No. They fell once, to the Buradeans remember? 'The Downfall' the Saiyans call it. And if the prince and king had been on the planet at the time I am sure it would have been a downfall from which there would be no recovery; the planet decimated, the royal bloodline extinguished. Where then would the Saiyan have turned? Without a leader they would fail. Leaderless they would disperse, with no direction all would revert to anarchy and they would resort to bickering amongst themselves, for at the heart of every Saiyan beast lies the desire to fight. And if there are no enemies who then will they fight?"_

"_This is your plan then, Leader? To destroy the royal bloodline and induce a spiral of self-destruction?"_

"_Yes. That is the plan."_

"_But how? Since the Downfall the Saiyans have become very stringent and protective. They will not make the same mistakes again."_

_There was a silence. More bodies could be heard, moving, breathing. Clearly the two men speaking were not the only ones in the room. Still there was no light, and still no faces could be seen. _

"_Everyone has their weaknesses. Even the Saiyans are not beyond fault. They fell once. They will fall again. We must learn how." _

"_My Leader, I may know a way," came another voice from the darkness._

"_Come forward," spoke the one they called the 'Leader'. _

"_On my home planet I was a scholar, the most learned of all those on the planet and many of those surrounding it. My race live very long, Leader, and in my long lifetime I had read the entirety of our extensive library-"_

"_Speak!" the Leader growled. "I have no time for your life story. Tell me that which I wish to know or leave before I have you struck down."_

"_Yes sir, sorry milord. The thing is, during that reading I encountered an accurate description of the entire Saiyan history. The book is not supposed to exist off the home planet but-"_

"_This is your last warning!" the Leader bellowed, the whole room quaking with fear at his voice. _

"_Y-y-y-yes my Leader. The Saiyan history book told of a prophecy. A prophecy of the downfall of the Saiyans."_

_The room went quiet. The atmosphere was electric, everyone hanging onto the words of the newcomer as they waited in anticipation for their leader's response. _

"_What is this prophecy?" the Leader spoke, in a deadly quiet voice, riddled with authority and power. Who was he? How did he have this insane power and control over, and respect and fear of these people?_

"_The book did not say. They were careful never to publish it. Apart from this one mention in the Saiyan history book I never found anything that mentioned this prophecy."_

_There was silence again, everyone waiting with bated breath._

"_If this is true... if this book exists and this prophecy is real..." The Leader stopped._

"_You. Can you find me this book?"_

"_I don't know sir, the library was destroyed with my planet and –" a blast of orange energy filled the air and the voice of the man who had been talking gave a high pitched squeal._

"_Next time I will not miss," the Leader warned. "No more life story. Can you get me this book?"_

"_I do not know, sir. Apart from on Vegeta-sei I do not know if any more copies exist. But I will try my best."_

"_If I did not require you to track down this book, I would have killed you by now for your repeated disobedience of my commands," the Leader growled. The man gave an odd noise that sounded like a small animal. _

"_Alright. That is one matter dealt with... look at... maybe...method ...the Saiyans."_

_The room and sound suddenly faltered, fading in and out like it was coming from a badly tuned transmitter. _

Bardock awoke with a start, the images vivid in his head, breathing heavily. His mind was racing. What had he seen? Was it a dream? Was it real? It had seemed real. They had talked about the planet, the Saiyan Rakshi, the book of the planet's history which few non-Saiyans knew about and as far as Bardock was aware, no non-Saiyan had ever read. Calming his heart, Bardock decided he would go to the King about the dream first thing in the morning, for it was still only just on midnight. Trying to settle the uneasy feeling in his stomach, Bardock began to drift off to sleep.

When he awoke at daybreak he remembered nothing of the dream.


	4. Reprieve

Chapter 4

"Kakkarot!" Vegeta yelled in frustration as the other Saiyan dodged his energy attack. The two were sparring in an open field towards the Kiyama Ranges. Not a week after Vegeta had agreed to Kakkarot becoming his training partner, the two of them had destroyed the majority of the training compound inside the palace grounds and had elected to train away from the city. Two weeks on and the training compound still wasn't totally rebuilt.

"So how's the Buradean concubine?" Kakkarot asked as he blocked attack after attack from Vegeta.

"Excellent," Vegeta smirked, blocking as Kakkarot came on the offensive. "Harder to break than I thought, but I'll get there." Kakkarot nodded. "What about you, Kakkarot? Do you keep concubines?" Kakkarot shook his head as he blocked another attack from Vegeta and swung at the prince with his left fist.

"No. I was mated." Vegeta nodded. The Saiyan mating ritual was not something undertaken lightly. Once Saiyans mated it was for life. Subsequently it was not undertaken lightly. It was not uncommon for the death of one mate to result in the death of the other, and so most Saiyans did not tie themselves down to that inconvenience; they settled down with a mate, but never officially 'mated', so Vegeta was surprised to hear that a Saiyan as young as Kakkarot had made that choice. Once a Saiyan had mated they had no desire for another woman, regardless of how attractive she might be. "She died," Kakkarot offered in answer to Vegeta's unspoken question. "During the birth of our son; Gohan."

The death of a Saiyan woman during childbirth was a rare occurrence, though when Vegeta reasoned about the power the young Saiyan had displayed at the Dentoyoru, it was highly plausible.

"His power killed her; he was too strong," Kakkarot offered, confirming what Vegeta had been thinking.

"Unfortunate for you," Vegeta smirked as he finally sent Kakkarot spiraling into the ground. "You're missing out on the fine world of pleasure slaves." Kakkarot laughed and grimaced as he pulled himself off the ground and Vegeta descended to meet him.

"Leit, perhaps," he agreed as he stood next to Vegeta and dusted himself off. "But there is little I can do about it now."

"Prince Vegeta!" came a voice from Vegeta's right. The two looked up to see one of the palace servants. "Prince Vegeta your father requires your presence, he has something important to discuss with you." Vegat rolled his eyes.

"The sooner I get rid of that useless old bastard the better," Vegeta growled.

Fifteen minutes later Vegeta met his father outside the palace entrance. He was already conversing with Bardock.

"Prince Vegeta," came Bardock's voice, with a slight inclination of his head. Vegeta barely acknowledged him.

"What?" he demanded.

"Quit that arrogant tone with me, boy," King Vegeta snapped.

Vegeta growled. One day he would make his father pay.

* * *

Bulma sighed as she lay in the bed she had grown to hate over the past few weeks. No, that was not entirely correct. She had hated the bed immediately. Hated anything that reminded her of Vegeta or her new position in life, which was virtually everything.

Since discovering she was not the filthy Buradean piece of dirt he had initially assumed, Vegeta had used her body every night until his desire was full, which sometimes meant three or four times a night. He seemed to need no sleep, and as such she got none. It was only when he left during the day, imprisoned in his room by doors that were too heavy for her to move and escape, that she finally got some sleep. When she was excessively tired she managed to sleep, not quite peacefully, but without the nightmares that tormented her on most other occasions.

She had moved from the floor to her master's bed for sleeping. Her life had become a painful monotony of rape and sleep. Twice a day servants brought her food. For the first week Bulma had fought Vegeta's repeated ravishments of her body but to no avail. In the second week she had lay there for the duration of the episode, silent and unmoving, showing no response at all to Vegeta's ministrations. Again, it seemed to have no effect on him. His unnaturally high libido meant that she was at his beck and call, day and night, whether she screamed or whether she lay there like a lifeless doll. The worst times were the ones she was not expecting; when he came back in late morning after Council meetings, or in the early afternoon before the evening pomp and festival.

Killing herself had crossed her mind many times. The thought of the next fifteen years like this; for she assumed her appearance would remain attractive to the prince for at least that long, drove her to the brink of a mental breakdown. But she was not that weak. She would not dishonor her family by taking her own life and giving up.

It would not have been as bad, she reasoned, if he was not the monster from her past, and if he would actually treat her like a human being. But those delusions had long ago left her; she was a pleasure slave. Pleasure slaves did not get enjoyment, polite conversation or cuddling after sex. They got used and then ignored when they had satisfied their master's needs.

And all that aside, she could never get past the hate. It ran so deep she didn't know whether it was blood or her hatred for Vegeta that coursed through her body and drove her survival.

Some days, she had come to find, were not so bad as others. Rarely, he took her only once during the night; when they first went to bed. But more often than not she was left crying in the bottom of the shower, huddled in fetal position when he left every morning. The feelings of guilt and filth and dirtiness now ran so deep she barely felt anything else.

And yet she still hadn't broken. She had not caved and become the willing submissive slave that Vegeta tried to shape and beat her into every night.

But even the strongest will has its breaking point. And as Bulma lay in the bed staring at the roof of the room that had become her life, she felt that that point was approaching.

* * *

"You," Vegeta snapped as he entered his sleeping quarters. Bulma looked up slowly, knowing the tyrant could only be speaking to her. She said nothing. Vegeta growled angrily and backhanded her across the face, knocking her off the bed. "You will speak when spoken to," he snarled. Bulma glared defiantly back at him, hand across her face.

"Or what," Bulma spat back at him. "What more could you possibly do to me?" Vegeta smirked as he stepped menacingly forwards.

"I can do _so_ much more," he growled, forcing his mouth against hers as she jerked her head away. Vegeta growled angrily and shoved her backwards onto the bed, stripping her of her robe in one movement and making quick work of his own pants. Bulma kicked out at Vegeta and rolled away. Before she had taken a step Vegeta was behind her, and slammed her up against the wall so she was pinned.

Bulma cried out in pain as he once again forced himself upon her, letting her crumple to the ground as soon as he was no longer supporting her. Her body shook with a sob. Vegeta snarled at her as he pulled his clothes back on.

"I am going on a purging mission. I will return in four days. During my absence you are to live in the whore quarters with the rest of the harem. No man will use you while I am gone." Vegeta squatted down next to her collapsed figure and turned her head to face him. "You're still mine," he growled into her ear, then left without another word.

The slaves came for her not half an hour later. They told her to collect her belongings. Bulma wrapped the robe she was wearing around herself tighter and nodded at the slaves.

They lead her through a part of the castle she had not seen on her one occasion outside Vegeta's room; when she had been taken to him. What tiny bit of the castle she had seen, she had little memory of anyway. The palace was lavish in an old sort of way, with high roofs, far grander and more regal than anything she had seen on Buradea. Like everything on Vegeta-sei, the palace had a warrior feel to it. All too quickly they arrived at the harem.

"In here," the Saiyan grunted. He opened the door, Bulma walked in, and the door was shut behind her. She turned around to look at the room in front of her.

It was large, like a vastly, horrendously oversized lounge, with couches spread throughout it, covered with the most beautiful, exotic range of women Bulma had ever seen. She looked up as someone spoke to her.

"Wow. The rumours are true," said the voice. Bulma frowned, despite the kind tone. "You're the prince's new concubine right? Word amongst the soldiers is you're the best looking concubine anyone has seen, even the royalty. They weren't talking you up either. You're quite a catch." Bulma growled as she looked at the woman who could almost be a human.

"I'm no prize or possession," Bulma snarled, "and you have no right to address me so," she turned to leave, then felt the other woman's hand on her back.

"I'm sorry love, I meant no offence. Try and think of it as a compliment, a comment even. I didn't mean to offend you, I'm sorry if I did." The woman extended her hand. "I'm Zarna." Bulma looked at her skeptically before taking the women's hand. After all, she wasn't exactly in the position to be turning down friends in this place.

"Bulma," she offered back. Zarna nodded. The two women were of similar build; similar number of limbs as well surprisingly. Zarna's face was a strange pale yellow colour with black hair.

"Hi Bulma. I'm a bit of an old hand round here, I've been the King's favourite concubine since I was sixteen – I'm thirty now – but I have to say, in all my time with the King I never once spent a day in his quarters. Prince Vegeta sure must think a lot of you." Bulma raised an eyebrow slightly. Her appearance was beginning to draw a crowd. It made Bulma nervous and uncomfortable.

"Um, that's… great," Bulma supplied. "Listen is there somewhere I can wash up? I've had a pretty bad start to my day."

"Of course," Zarna smiled and Bulma gladly followed the older women away from the crowd. Zarna lead her to a bathroom just off the main lounge and it was a relief when she finally sunk into a hot bath.

When Bulma emerged from the bathroom an hour later, it was to find a group of girls hanging round outside the door, waiting for her.

"Excuse me" she mumbled nervously, pushing through the girls and finding her way to Zarna.

"Food?" Zarna offered, as Bulma found her sitting at a table in the harem lounge. Bulma nodded and sat down, not making a move towards the food.

"Why do those girls –"

"The ones outside the bathroom?"

"Yeah."

Zarna laughed.

"Most of the women in this harem are communal whores," Zarna started explaining. "You and I are a few of the lucky ones; we know where we're going each night, who we're going to, how it's going to be. We know we're safe to a degree. Them. They don't really have that security. Any soldier could come in here and use them and kill them without a second thought. Concubines have a ten year service, then if they're pleasing, they're released. Most of them don't live that long though."

"Are you saying they _envy_ us?" Bulma asked incredulously. Zarna nodded.

"That's exactly it." Bulma leant back in her chair, watching the small group of girls that had gathered by her. Bulma felt a pang of sadness for them. But when her thoughts turned to her last encounter with Vegeta, she remember that her circumstances were not exactly ideal.

"Excuse me," came the voice of one of the girls. She looked younger than Bulma; only fifteen at the oldest. Bulma looked up.

"Yes?" Bulma answered, as politely as she could manage.

"We were wondering," she looked at the group of girls around her. "Well, we were wondering if you could tell us what the prince is like. You know. It's just. Well. Like Zarna said, we get used by whoever comes in here," the girl's blue face flushed a tinge of green. "What's it like to only have one man? It must be nice to know that it's him every night."

Bulma said nothing for a few moments. She thought carefully before answering the girl.

"Just because – Vegeta – " she forced herself to say his name, "is the only man, if you can call him that, that uses me, doesn't mean that my experiences or ordeals are any worse than yours my love," Bulma smiled sadly at the girl. The blue skinned girl looked up at her with purple eyes.

"But surely, I mean if he likes you so much that he keeps you in his room, he must treat you well?" Bulma sighed as she noticed all the girls looking at her. This was what it was really about. The other girls. They were _jealous_ of her.

"Vegeta – I've met him before. He purged my home planet. He murdered my fiancé in front of my eyes. He's raped me repeatedly every night since I came to Vegeta-sei. On one of the first nights, he broke both my wrists. I have three broken ribs at the moment, just because of how rough he is with me. I'm not allowed out of his room; I'm not strong enough to open the doors so I can't even leave when he's not around." Bulma looked at the girl and grabbed her hand gently. "Don't envy my life," Bulma said gently to her. "It is no different than your own. In fact, you are almost luckier." Bulma looked around the room. "You have all the other girls, girls who know your pain and understand what you're going through. You're lucky to have friends. _I _envy _you_," Bulma told her. The girl gave Bulma a half smile. Bulma smiled back. "He might be a prince, but he's still the Prince of the _Saiyans_. Remember that, he's no Prince Charming," Bulma soothed. The girl's disposition visibly brightened. She thanked Bulma, and left with her friends. Bulma turned back to Zarna, who was giving her a weird look. Bulma questioned the other woman.

"Jarlia," Zarna answered. "She has been here three years and never once have I seen her smile before. It is good to see," Zarna nodded. Bulma looked at the girl's retreating back sadly.

"How old is she?" Bulma questioned.

"Nearly fifteen. She was brought here when she was twelve." Bulma shuddered.

"That's awful. She's so young." Zarna laughed.

"You're hardly old, my dear," Zarna commented. "You can't be a day over twenty?" Bulma sighed.

"On my home planet it was four months until my twentieth birthday. So I guess it must be coming up soon. I would have married after my twentieth birthday," Bulma sighed again, as she felt the familiar pang in her chest and stomach that she had begun to associate with Rainin. Bulma felt Zarna's hand reassuringly on her leg.

"I'm sorry for your loss," she commented. "I lost my husband and son in the purge of my home planet. Many times I wished I was just killed along with them."

"I'm sorry," Bulma whispered. Zarna smiled sadly back at her.

"It was a long time ago. I think about them all the time, but the ache dulls."

"Wait, you said concubines serve ten years then are free, but I'm sure I heard you say you've been here since you were sixteen?" Bulma questioned. Zarna nodded.

"I stay here now out of choice. King Vegeta treats me well, I am not abused like many of the women here, including yourself. It is a shame for you that the young prince does not share his father's higher level of respect for women. But as I said, the King treats me well, I have nowhere else to go. This has been my life so long now that it's all I know. But my main reason for staying is girls like you, and Jarlia. I hope that by staying here, I can help some of you girls get through your time here."

Bulma said nothing as she looked from Zarna to Jarlia, who was now sitting on a couch with one of her friends, talking quietly. As she was watching, the door of the harem opened. A young soldier, only a few years older than Bulma walked in. He cast his eye around the room, as though he was looking for a particular food he liked. His eyes came to rest on Jarlia, sitting with her friend. The soldier walked over to her and grabbed her by the arm. Bulma watch in disbelief as the soldier dragged Jarlia from the room without a word. The scared haunted look in Jarlia's eyes as the soldier led her away chilled Bulma to the core.

And suddenly, she was slightly thankful that she was limited to one Saiyan; that she knew what was coming and what to expect. Though far from ideal, at least Vegeta was constant. The thought and fear of having a different Saiyan use her body every time he felt like it, not knowing what diseases he was full of, how drunk he was, what sort of temper he had, how likely he was to kill her.

It wasn't much, Bulma thought as she stared at the door through which the Saiyan and Jarlia had left, but it was something.

* * *

The days in the harem passed slowly for Bulma. Able to sleep relatively uninterrupted, except for the occasional nightmare, she found herself no longer needing to sleep in the day, but with nothing to do.

She made a habit of talking to one new concubine every day. The worst day came when Bulma befriended a concubine named Tina. They had got on quite well, Tina was only two years older than Bulma. A drunken Saiyan had come for her that night when they'd been in the middle of a conversation. Tina told Bulma they'd finish talking when she got back, the two had hugged and Tina had left.

Bulma had sat up, talking with the other girls, early into the morning. When they finished talking around three am, nine hours after Tina had left, she had still not returned. Bulma fell asleep waiting for her.

At eight am the next morning, at the changing of the guards, three Saiyan men had walked into the harem, down the halls to Tina's small room and returned carrying her belongings, then left. Bulma had felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Zarna smiling sadly.

"Is she…" Bulma asked. Zarna nodded slowly.

"Yes Bulma. I'm afraid so. Toreton, who took her last night, has killed all but two of the concubines he has ever taken." Bulma said nothing, staring at the ground in shock. "Come on," Zarna said gently as she led Bulma away.

In the four days she had been there two other girls had been killed, and though Bulma knew neither of them their deaths and the harsh reality of their profession had disturbed Bulma more than she ever would have anticipated.

Despite the less than enjoyable tone of her stay in the harem, Bulma was full of regret and apprehension when the man she had begun to recognize as one of Vegeta's personal guards arrived to collect her. The four days without her own personal live-in demon had been the most pleasant since that fated day with Rainin beneath the tree on Buradea.

The guard marched beside her, leading the way to Vegeta's quarters. As they arrived just outside the door to the room that Bulma hated so much, the guard paused.

"Listen girl, I think you're alright. So I'll give you the heads up that Vegeta is in a bad mood, there were some complications during the purge, so I would advise you not to ask about it. It will be a rough night for you girl, but Vegeta will be gone all day. At nine I will send a servant by to collect you and show you to the medical wing."

"But what if he finds out?" Bulma frowned. She wouldn't have anyone getting on the wrong side of Vegeta, not because of her.

"It is in Vegeta's interest that you be healed, much more of what you have suffered and your body will give way. He will be brought around to the idea, you leave that to others." Bulma looked up at the kind Saiyan guard whose name she didn't know. It was the first time she had ever used that adjective to describe the species. Bulma made a motion to hug the Saiyan in thanks, but he quickly side-stepped her.

"I dare not," the Saiyan told her. "It would be a death sentence for both of us if Vegeta was to smell my scent on you."

"Smell your…." Bulma trailed off. The Saiyan nodded and opened the door for her.

"I take my leave," he said, bowing as the prince appeared at the door. Bulma turned around to look into those eyes that never left her mind's eye. The prince nodded to his guard and the guard left.

"Welcome back," Vegeta snarled viciously, grabbing Bulma's arm tightly, yanking her inside and slamming the door behind him.

* * *

Vegeta woke Bulma when he left for business the next morning, quickly satisfying himself with her already battered and broken body and leaving.

Bulma lay awake, breathing slowly and shallowly to avoid excess pain from her already broken ribs. The guard hadn't been exaggerating when he told her she was in for a difficult night. She could feel her insides, torn and pained and knew she must be bleeding. At some point during the night she had felt her shoulder dislocated by his repeated ravaging of her, the pain in her back was so intense she couldn't move. Her leg felt like it was broken and there was barely a clear patch of skin amongst the bruising that covered her body. As tears rolled down her cheeks, Bulma once again lost consciousness.

* * *

"….her ribs, I think four of them were broken. She had seven cracked vertebrae, compound fracture of the fibula, dislocated shoulder, severe third degree internal lacerations and many superficial scratches and bruising." There was the rustling of paper. "She would have been dead from complications in a few short days, particularly with that monster."

"Please don't speak about our prince like that," came another recognizable voice. "Just because I like you doesn't mean I'm not duty bound to kill you for your disloyalty to our prince," the voice warned.

"Not my prince," came the first voice in a quiet grumble, but nothing more was said.

"Look, she's waking up," came a third voice. Bright light burned into Bulma's eyes as she strained to open them. As her consciousness returned to her, she noticed that she was floating in a large amount of green fluid with an oxygen mask strapped to her face. Her heart began to race and she flailed as she panicked.

"Woah lass," came the first voice Bulma had heard, who she could now see belonged to a small red skinned man, reminiscent in age and appearance to Bulma's Buradean father, only smaller. He had a stethoscope hanging around his neck, a white coat and clipboard and appeared to be a doctor. Next to him stood the voice she had recognized; that of Vegeta's personal guard who had become a variation of a friend to her the other night. She couldn't see where the third voice had come from, but almost immediately the fluid began to drain and Bulma became cold. The door of the small tank she was now aware she was in hissed open as she fell to the ground, the Saiyan guard's warm arms wrapping a towel around her. It was only then Bulma realized she was naked. She blushed and mumbled her thanks to the Saiyan.

The grey haired, red skinned doctor approached her and began taking her heart rate vitals as Bulma stood there shivering.

"What happened?" Bulma asked, no one in particular. The doctor answered her as he continued his examination.

"Well I sent this here intern," he gestured at a small man of similar appearance to himself with brown hair, standing nearby "to collect you this morning and he found you unconscious and bloodied on the prince's bed," the man explained, the distaste apparent in his tone. "He came back here and we contacted master Kakkarot, who went to collect you." This time he pointed at the Saiyan guard. "Kakkarot brought you back here, where we placed you in the regeneration tank nearly 12 hours ago. Your wounds were severe, but nothing our tank couldn't handle." The doctor stepped back, apparently pleased with her recovery. Bulma was amazed to find no trace of pain as she moved.

"Thank you," she told him, and kissed the small doctor gently on the head. The doctor grumbled nonchalantly, but Bulma saw a slight blush appear in his cheeks.

"Your clothes," the intern told her, handing her a clean, folded pile of clothing. Bulma thanked him, then took her leave to get changed and returned quickly.

"We must get you back," Kakkarot told her. "Prince Vegeta will be back any time and will be indescribably angry if you are not there when he returns. Bulma nodded, swallowing the ominous feeling that the next time she woke up it may again be in the medical wing of the hospital. Kakkarot motioned for her to follow as she thanked the doctors.

They walked in silence for a while, then Bulma started conversation.

"What went so wrong on the purge?" she asked. "Why was Vegeta so mad?"

"Prince Vegeta," Kakkarot corrected automatically. "Well the purge went bad from the moment we arrived," Kakkarot told her. Bulma tried to hide her surprise that this kind Saiyan was involved in the hellish task of purging planets. Kakkarot clearly noticed her surprise but chose to ignore it. "Anyway, things weren't right when we arrived. The planet was quiet. Upon further investigation we discovered that the planet had been emptied of civilians, and we were met by a raggedy band of warriors, an assortment of races. We destroyed them eventually but two of our number were taken hostage. They clearly knew we were coming. It's most unsettling," Kakkarot told her as they arrived at the door to Vegeta's chambers. "He's not there," Kakkarot added, nodding towards the door. Bulma sighed.

"Thank you," she told him. "For everything." Kakkarot nodded.

"Take care Bulma." He turned without another word and left.

* * *

"It doesn't make sense," Kortinar frowned. "There is no way they could have known the attack was coming."

"Maybe it was just good luck?" Peris offered. "Maybe they assumed they were next because of our recent activity destroying planets in the area. That wouldn't be too difficult to guess." The council talked quietly amongst themselves while King Vegeta talked to his son at the head of the table.

"What of the two Saiyans taken?" came Srinak's voice. "Why would they want prisoners? They know we care little for hostages and don't bargain for their return." King Vegeta nodded.

"It is puzzling. We have never been a nation of hostage takers, nor people from which our enemies can gain something from hostages. Our Saiyan warriors are trained to resist torture, and our soldiers know little of value. Short of capturing royalty or a council member, there is nothing to be gained," the King mused. There was silence for a moment.

"Perhaps…" came Bardock's voice. The council looked at him. "It's not a vision, I have seen nothing relating to this," Bardock told them, "but perhaps there is a scientific motivation behind it; Saiyan specimens for research." Bardock shrugged. "It's just an idea."

"I certainly hope not," King Vegeta sighed. "Brute force can not fight science." Silence fell once more.

"This is going in circles. I tire of all this endless pointless talking. I take my leave," Vegeta told them, and stood and left without another word.

He needed to spend some time alone with his concubine.


	5. The Leader

Chapter 5

"That's two more this month," Bardock sighed as he handed a raft of paperwork to the king. King Vegeta sighed too as he took the wad of paper and flicked through.

Two purges. Two empty planets. Seven Saiyans had been taken from the two purges, bringing the total to six empty planets and nineteen kidnappings. Two months since the first purge had gone wrong and they were no closer to finding out why the planets were empty, or why or where the soldiers were disappearing to. They had received no ransom notices, no demands and there were no clues left behind. It was as if they'd disappeared off the face of the universe.

"You changed the purging pattern? Like I told you?" the King asked. Bardock nodded.

"We went to a totally different quadrant. There was no way they could have guessed. Not even a lucky guess. There's twelve hundred and eighty seven planets in the South Quadrant, and three other quadrants we could have picked. It's virtually impossible for them to evacuate the planet by chance."

"I agree," Peris spoke up. "And I don't believe for a second that they're evacuating every non-warrior planet in the galaxy. Where would they keep them? That's billions of beings. Bardock's right. It's impossible."

King Vegeta sighed.

"Is it possible…" Srinak started and trailed off. "Perhaps… a leak… your highness?" The council fell silent. Everyone knew what Srinak was proposing. The only people that knew about the purges in enough time to warn a planet were council members.

"No," King Vegeta answered in a tone that made it clear the topic was not up for discussion. "I do not believe a single person in this room would betray me." Prince Vegeta snorted and laughed.

"You are more stupid than I thought, Father." King Vegeta opened his mouth, no doubt to reprimand his son but the young Vegeta cut him off. "Spare me the lecture," Vegeta growled. "I know you trust them. But your judgment, along with your ability to rule are coming into question." Vegeta stood and left the council room, and his frustrated father behind.

* * *

Bulma laughed as she picked up the forceps and gently pushed the needle through the skin as she sutured the wound back together. Her patient winced slightly and Bulma apologized.

"Hey, can you please pass me the scissors?" Bulma asked the red-skinned intern who had help nurse her back to health the first time Vegeta had nearly killed her. His name was Cormick. Cormick passed her the scissors, Bulma expertly tied the suture off and snipped the piece of stitch.

"I have to admit Bulma, I'm impressed," Cormick told her as he took the scissors. Bulma smiled. "You'd never know that a week ago you couldn't stitch a pair of pants." Bulma laughed as the Saiyan patient sat on the bed and Cormick followed her over to get the antibiotic injections.

"I tell you," Bulma says as she walked back to the Saiyan boy sitting on the bed. "It sure beats waiting round in Vegeta's room all day." Cormick laughed.

"Yeah. Better hope he never finds out."

Every morning since the first day she had been in the infirmary, Kakkarot had come to collect her when Vegeta had left, and returned her before he came back. Up until now they had been extremely lucky. Vegeta hadn't called in to satisfy his needs in the middle of the day, the way he had in the early days. But eventually their luck was going to run out. And Bulma didn't want to think about what would happen to her or Kakkarot when he finally did find out. But the risk was worth it, for the moment at least. The few hours spent in the infirmary ward made up for the agonizing hours spent being bent to Vegeta's will. Well maybe not, but they certainly made it a little more bearable. And Bulma would take whatever she could get.

"Help!" yelled a voice suddenly from the door of the med wing. "Help, someone please. We need a doctor!" the voice was Saiyan, but not one Bulma recognized. She left the Saiyan boy as her and Cormick quickly rushed to the cries for help. The Saiyan who had called out was holding another Saiyan in his arms, a thin teenage boy from the looks of things. However as she approached, Bulma was mortified as she began to realize that the teenaged Saiyan was actually an injured, emaciated fully grown Saiyan.

"What happened?" she heard Cormick ask, as Bulma quickly had the Saiyan lain down on a bed and assessed his vitals. The other Saiyan shook his head.

"I don't know. He's my brother. He went on a purge six weeks ago, but never returned. One of those purges where the planet was empty and Saiyans disappear for no reason. Then not ten minutes ago his pod entered the orbit. When it arrived and opened we found him looking like this. I brought him straight here."

"Have you alerted the king?" came another voice, that of Dr. Dajorn, the head of the medical wing. The Saiyan shook his head. Dr. Dajorn quickly dispensed a messenger to the king. "No Saiyans have yet returned after being kidnapped, I'm sure the King will want to know." Dr. Dajorn turned to the stricken Saiyan on the bed. "Has he said-" Dr. Dajorn began, but had no time to finish as the Saiyan on the bed began to convulse. His whole body shook as violent tremors overtook his body from the inside. The doctors and Bulma rushed forward to restrain him, and then as quickly as they had begun, they stopped. Suddenly, quite without warning, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he screamed. The scream was followed by a string of words.

"The Leader knows. The Leader sees. The Leader is our savior. The Leader knows. The Leader sees. The Leader is our savior." He repeated this ten or twenty times, before lying still again, eyes open and glassy, staring unseeing at the roof, his breathing shallow and controlled, betraying none of the earlier madness.

Dr. Dajorn looked skeptically at Cormick, who returned the look.

"Who is the Leader?" Bulma asked, confused, as she stared at the now unmoving Saiyan on the bed.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Dr. Dajorn answered. He turned to look suddenly at Bulma. "Bulma dear, you must go. Prince Vegeta will surely accompany the king here and it is probably not the ideal situation for him to discover you here, if you get what I mean." Bulma sighed. Things were just starting to get interesting. Kakkarot had been keeping her updated on the missing Saiyan/empty planet saga, and now just when there was a development, she would be forced to leave.

"You're right," Bulma sighed. "Good luck. I'll catch you later." Bulma turned and walked from the room, with a last wistful look at the petrified Saiyan. No doubt Kakkarot or Cormick of Dr. Dajorn would fill her in at a later date, and she didn't feel overly like tangoing with Vegeta's temper right now. If not for the wonder of the regen tanks she would still be recovering from the results of her last encounter with his temper only the night before. Vegeta knew that Bulma had been visiting the tanks, but observed simply as something that benefited him, and knew nothing of her daily activities in the hospital.

But as she walked back to their room, she couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive and excited for her next chat with Kakkarot and the hospital staff.

* * *

"Are you telling us you can't get any answers?" Vegeta demanded as he smacked his hand down on the surgical bench. Dr. Dajorn fumbled nervously.

"I'm terribly sorry Prince Vegeta," he answered nervously. "We've tried everything short of torture. He has absolutely no memory of where he has been or what happened to him. He just keeps repeating the same thing over and over again. We've established his level of emaciation at near death. He must barely have been receiving enough to stay alive. His body is covered in scars and wounds greater in number than any I've ever seen on a Saiyan before."

"What are you getting at?" King Vegeta probed. Dr. Dajorn took a deep breath.

"It is my professional opinion, that this Saiyan has been the victim of prolonged, sustained and intense torture."

"He went missing two months ago," the Saiyan's brother offered. Dr. Dajorn frowned.

"Well if I had to guess, he looks like it must have been at least six months. But if it has only been two, then I can't imagine the effort that must have gone into torturing him. Day and night. At least," Dr. Dajorn said quietly, looking over to the unmoving Saiyan patient.

King Vegeta turned to Bardock.

"Tortured day and night? What sort of information could they hope to obtain from a third class soldier?" King Vegeta asked incredulously. Bardock shrugged.

"It's beyond me. I've seen plenty of torture victims before, and the doctor's right. They've really done a number on him." Bardock looked up at the king. "Just as disturbing, I think, as _why_ this was done, would be the question of _who_ could have kidnapped a Saiyan, hoodwinked the empire and tortured a Saiyan into," he paused and looked over at the bed, "into insanity."

There was silence.

"I don't think there's anything for him," the doctor sighed. "We could put him in a coma and hope he comes around…. but the outlook is bleak, at best."

"Then put him down," Vegeta answered. "Give him some of his respect back and don't let him live as such a pathetic excuse for a Saiyan." The Saiyan's brother paused for only the shortest moment before nodding curtly. He stepped over to his brother, and a small ki blast later the Saiyan was dead. There was silence again. Dr. Dajorn spoke first.

"I get the awful feeling," he said quietly, "that this is only the beginning.

* * *

There were three the next day.

And another two the next.

The pods kept on coming, and everyone was the same. Emaciated, tortured, mad and rambling the same sentence as the first one.

The Leader knows. The Leader sees. The Leader is our savior.

A quadrant wide man hunt had begun. King Vegeta put out a $2 million reward for information leading to identification of the 'Leader', but there were no leads so far.

"What I don't understand," Bulma said as she pulled a sheet over the body of the most recent torture casualty. "Is why they're not waiting to see if any of them come round. Surely it's worth waiting for one? If they could identify the Leader?"

Dr. Dajorn sighed.

"Bulma dear, your heart is kind. It remains so even after all the hardship you endure. But the Saiyan's don't see things as you do. It's a matter of incredible shame for a Saiyan family to have one of their own in such a state. And if the Saiyan was to come round and remember their past and humiliation, it would be only moments before they took their own life. We'd never get an answer. It's easier to just save them the job." Dr Dajorn paused. "To a Saiyan anyway."

"WOMAN!" came a voice. Bulma's heart pounded in her throat and her stomach dropped as she heard the voice she knew would haunt her dreams for the rest of her existence.

"Vegeta," she whispered. Next to her the doctor's face paled.

"He must have found out," Dr. Dajorn whispered. Bulma swallowed in fear as she felt nausea come on.

Without warning the door burst inwards, smashed off its hinges and turned into a crumpled piece of metal. Through the doorway stepped the fuming prince, anger raging in his eyes. Despite his comparatively small stature, he seemed to tower above her. Bulma stepped back and opened her mouth, but never had a chance to say anything as Vegeta descended on her, grabbing her arm tightly, so tight something cracked. Bulma screamed and Dr. Dajorn rushed forward but Vegeta held his palm out to stop him, a small ball of light concentrating in his palm. Dr. Dajorn stopped, paling again.

"No," Bulma sobbed out, "no, not Daj," she choked. Vegeta's hand began to glow.

"Please sire, no. I beg you." Vegeta paused for a moment.

"You have thirty seconds to leave my sight, or I will kill you and every useless tech in this hospital," he said in a voice of deadly calm, still holding Bulma by the arm. Dr. Dajorn hesitated.

"Daj," she whispered quietly. "Please go." With a last pained , apologetic look, Dr. Dajorn turned and left the room.

Vegeta's hand moved quickly from her arm to her neck, as he rammed her up against the wall and stripped her clothes off in one motion. Bulma gave a cry and tried to cover herself, to no avail.

The world spun and her field of vision grew and shrunk in strange shapes when she drifted in and out of consciousness as Vegeta ravaged her body again and again. After what felt like hours, Bulma felt Vegeta finally let her slide to the ground. She crumpled into an aching throbbing heap and sobbed on the ground. Vegeta quickly redressed, then stopped and looked down at her.

"I will break you, woman. Mark my words. And if I _ever_ catch you back in this hospital except by my own hand." Vegeta stopped. "I will kill you." He stormed out without another word.

Kakkarot arrived some time later to collect her. Too sore and shattered to cover herself, Bulma was thankful when Kakkarot grabbed a towel off a nearby bench and gently covered her ruined body. Kakkarot slowly wrapped the towel around her and lifted her from the floor.

Bulma was barely conscious as Kakkarot laid her in Vegeta's bed. He turned to leave after setting her down gently, but Bulma choked out just as he left,

"Please, Kakkarot. Please stay." Kakkarot hesitated at the door.

"I'm sorry Bulma. I can't. Vegeta would know. He would kill us both." Bulma took a deep, pained breath.

"How would he know?"

"My scent," Kakkarot told her. Bulma grimaced.

"I already….. smell like you….. from carrying me. Please," she whispered. Kakkarot paused. Then slowly, he turned and walked back to the bed, climbing on and facing Bulma. She moved slowly into his chest and Kakkarot slid an arm around her. Bulma sighed gently and wiped a tear off her cheek.

"Thank you," she whispered. Kakkarot didn't answer.

* * *

"I don't like this," Bardock frowned. Vegeta snorted.

"Typical. The moment you have to get your hands dirty you get cold feet. You're a pathetic excuse for a Saiyan, Bardock." Bardock turned and glared at the young prince.

"The statement was not in reference to 'getting my hands dirty" as you so crudely put it." Bardock turned back to the king. "I'm worried about the idea of attacking a planet of seers. Surely they of all people will see us coming?" King Vegeta shook his head.

"No. I have spoken at length with Srinak and his logic is sound. The last thing they will expect is an attack on their own planet."

"Then why the need for me to accompany them?" Bardock enquired as he pulled on a scouter.

"There may be need for your help in fighting those of telepathic abilities, Bardock. I do not send you lightly, but I feel it's necessary. As does the rest of the council." Vegeta snorted.

His father was insufferable. Malleable. Easily bent to the will of whosoever happened to come across his path. Admittedly, Vegeta was more than a little irritated that he himself was not assigned to the purge, but there were things to be attended at home. Not the least of which was his concubine.

She was incredible. No matter how many times he thought he had her broken, she never came willingly or submissively to his bed. Repeatedly she fought until he was forced to break something to ensure her submission. Not that he minded. The sadism just added to his enjoyment of the process. But nonetheless, Vegeta did not like being beaten. And a weak, powerless concubine was not going to be the first being to claim victory over the Saiyan Prince.

"Bardock does have a point," Peris offered. "Regardless of whether they _expect_ an attack on them, surely at least one of them will see it coming? Bardock, for example, does not choose what he does and doesn't see. I find it difficult to believe that a whole planet of seers will miss us coming."

"That thought did cross my mind," King Vegeta acknowledged. "But after extensive study of the species, we learned that their telepathic abilities are clouded by arrogance. Supposedly they can subconsciously block visions if they believe something enough. Because of their ability to See, they have convinced themselves no-one will ever attack them. And it is this arrogance that we will exploit; they will never know we're coming."

Peris fell silent, clearly having nothing else to oppose the king with. "If that is all," King Vegeta announced, "I think it is high time the squad were on their way." He turned to Bardock. "Contact me as soon as the planet is emptied, and we will issue clearance for your journey home. Best of luck Bardock." Bardock nodded and headed up the ramp without another word. The rest of the squad followed him and within five minutes the ship was boarded and leaving the atmosphere.

* * *

"He was lovely," Bulma smiled as she enjoyed her moment of nostalgia. "Creamy chocolate skin, short cropped hair, blue as sapphires. When he smiled my whole world just glowed. He was my best friend, since as long as I could remember. Every good memory I have, he's in it. As we got older it sort of grew into more. The day- the day he… died…" she whispered, "he asked me to marry him. He was going to the war, and he promised me he'd come back. It was such a perfect day," she said gently. "Until _they_ arrived. Until _he_ arrived." Bulma looked quietly out the window, where she could see the Kiyama Ranges in the distance. "I never thought I could hate someone. I didn't think it was possible." She turned back around again. "But I _hate _him, Zarna. I hate him with all my heart. I hate him as much as I loved Rainin. He's the total antithesis of Rainin; the embodiment of everything evil and wrong."

Zarna gently put an arm around Bulma's shoulders as she cried.

"Ssssh, sweetheart," she cooed. "I know it's hard. But my dear, you need to learn not to hate the prince. He is immune to your hate, perhaps enjoys it even. It does not hurt him. But darling, it hurts you. Every day you hate him it poisons _your_ soul. Every day you hate him it ruins _your _life. Always yours, darling. Never his."

"How can I do anything but hate him?" Bulma whispered gently through the tears. "Every night he degrades me to the point where I feel I'll never come back. And every day I worry that eventually, I won't. That I'll get lost. That I'll forget who I am, and who Rainin was, who I was. Every time he touches me or uses me or looks at me the way he does, I fray a little more. I'm getting to the end of my tether, Zarna. Every time it happens, it's harder and harder to come back to my sanity."

"But you must come back, my love. Because otherwise Vegeta has won. Otherwise Rainin died for nothing. Every day you hate Vegeta, you're letting him win." Bulma shook her head.

"I don't know how. I don't know how to do anything except hate him. I don't think I can. I just. I don't know," she sighed, running her hand through her hair. Zarna reached out and clasped her hand.

"Tell me a story about Rainin. From when you were little. Though it hurts to linger in the past, sometimes it helps us hold onto ourselves better than dwelling on the present. Think child." Bulma closed her eyes for a moment, sifting through her memories.

"I've always had a soft spot for animals," Bulma recounted. "And I knew they used animals for experiments in some branches of the palace Science Wing. So one day I convinced Rainin to break in with me and set them free. It was absolute madness. The animals went everywhere, the scientists were furious. They ran down the halls screaming after us, and he grabbed my hand and we ran like there was no tomorrow. We ran all the way back to his room and jumped on the bed, laughing our heads off. I must have been about eleven maybe. We lay on his bed laughing, and he put his arm around me. I rolled into his chest and started to go to sleep. I told him I loved him, like I did a lot. But then he said it back. It was the first time he'd ever said it to me. I'll never forget it," she smiled sadly. Zarna squeezed her hand gently.

"And when you're with Vegeta my dear, and it's awful and horrible and you hate it, you need to go back to those times with Rainin. Stay in those memories. They will save you my dear. You just need to hold on. Even this storm will pass for you eventually. And while you can never have Rainin back in your life, you can always have him here." She placed her hand gently over the left side of Bulma's chest and smiled, kissing the younger woman on the forehead. "Stay strong my girl. You have a fighting spirit. Don't let him beat you."

Bulma nodded. "I must go now, Prince Vegeta will return soon, and the King will be expecting me."

"Thank you," Bulma whispered as Zarna hugged her.

"Anytime my dear." With that she turned and walked from the room, knocking on the door. From the outside, her Saiyan guard opened the heavy door and Zarna followed her Saiyan escort back to the harem.

Bulma lay still on the bed for the best part of an hour before the inevitable disturbed her.

She heard the door open, heard the unmistakable sounds of the Saiyan armor boots on the polished linoleum floor of the entrance room. She heard him drop his weighted body armor with a loud clunk. She felt the bed sink down as his weight landed on the bed. Closing her eyes, she waited for the brutal grab or callous words that were sure to come. Whatever she was expecting, it wasn't the gentle hand on her back that she got. Turning around like she'd been shocked with an electric prod, Bulma came face to face with Kakkarot, sitting next to her, his hand resting gently on her back.

"Kakkarot?" she asked tentatively . He smiled gently back at her.

"I thought you could use a friend. Vegeta is stuck in council meetings. There's a big purge happening at the moment, he'll be there all night." Bulma's face broke into an awkward, grateful smile. She leaned over and kissed Kakkarot on the forehead. Kakkarot helped Bulma up off the bed and the two of them left Vegeta's room, Kakkarot grabbing his chestplate on the way.


	6. Bardock

Chapter 6

"Ground to main control," Bardock spoke.

"This is control. What's going on down there?"

"We're about to land, preliminary results suggest the planet is still inhabited."

"Excellent. Good luck." Static cackled over the radio. Bardock turned to his squad.

"Alright team. This is the first planet we've come across that's still inhabited. We _need _this purge to succeed. The Saiyans are the laughing stock of the trading world at the moment. We have our reputation to restore."

There was a chorus of nods through the small pod, and moments later it landed. The door hissed open and the soldiers filed out.

Bardock surveyed the scene before him. It was a town like any other, like the thousands logged in Bardock's memory from his purging days.

"Alright team," Bardock spoke into his scouter. "You have two hours and I want you to report back here. Leave no one alive. Kill from a distance. This is a telepathic species, we don't know what else they are capable of. There is to be no physical contact. Do not let them speak. Fall out." The sound of boots clanking down the ramp and the sound of hundreds of Saiyans powering up and blasting off. Bardock watched them go, before turning his attention to the nearest building and lifting his palm, opening fire.

* * *

Bulma sighed as she gently washed the soap off her body. For the thousandth time she wondered if she would ever feel clean. Vegeta had woken her before sunrise that morning, to satisfy himself before he left for another day of council meetings. She was used to that by now, well as used to it as she could get, given that it wasn't exactly a normal experience. Vegeta had seemed to be becomingly increasingly angry at her determination not to break and turn into his mindless bed toy. While the thrill of it seemed to challenge him, she had the impression he wasn't used to being beaten. He had barricaded her in his chambers and forgiven her to leave. If she thought he would kill her, she would have left to provoke him. But she knew better than that; knew that he would only make her life worse than it already was, though she wasn't sure exactly how it could get worse.

The sound of the main door clicking open and closed caught her attention. Bulma felt her shower had turned cold as she thought Vegeta had turned, but she relaxed a moment later as she remembered that Kakkarot was bringing Zarna to visit.

"Hello," came Zarna's voice.

"In the shower," Bulma called back. "Won't be a moment." She quickly switched the shower off and dried herself, pulling her clothes on. She stepped out into the main lounge, pulling her hair up into a wet ponytail.

"Where's Kakkarot?" Bulma asked. Zarna raised her eyebrow.

"The Saiyan? The guard? Outside of course." She looked confused. Bulma smiled.

"He's OK, Zarna. Trust me. He's not like the rest." Zarna looked skeptical as Bulma walked over to the door and knocked. It slid open and Kakkarot's head popped around the corner. He smiled lightly at Bulma, the only Saiyan Bulma had ever seen smile.

"Hello Bulma," he greeted. Bulma smiled back at him.

"Come in, Kakkarot." His face mirrored the skeptical look Zarna's had held only a moment ago. Bulma laughed. "Don't worry, Zarna won't say anything." Kakkarot paused for a moment before stepping in.

"Zarna, this is Kakkarot, Kakkarot this is Zarna." Kakkarot extended his hand to Zarna who made no attempt to hide her surprise. "Kakkarot has been very good to me," Bulma explained to Zarna. "But the king or the prince can't know anything. Kakkarot would be killed if they found out how he's looked after me." Zarna nodded confidently.

"I understand." She turned to Kakkarot. "Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you for taking care of her, and for putting one good strike on your race's page." Kakkarot nodded, but said nothing.

Zarna stayed for nearly three hours. Kakkarot joined the conversation occasionally, but was notably reserved.

Zarna left around lunchtime, escorted by Kakkarot. He returned afterwards, letting himself in without knocking.

"Hi," Bulma greeted again. Kakkarot smiled slightly again but didn't say anything. "Are you OK?" Bulma asked. Kakkarot sighed.

"I'm fine." Bulma laughed.

"That's the answer I used to give Rainin when I meant the total opposite." Kakkarot smirked. He headed over to the couch and sat down. Bulma followed and sat next to him, drawing her knees up to her chin and wrapping her arms round her legs, resting her chin on her knees. "What's wrong?"

Kakkarot sighed again but didn't say anything. Bulma reached out and put her hand on Kakkarot's knee. He looked at it.

"She used to do that." Bulma paused.

"Who Kakkarot?" He paused again.

"Chichi."

"Was that your mate?" Bulma asked. Kakkarot nodded. "Tell me about her," Bulma said. Kakkarot looked at her.

"She was beautiful," Kakkarot sighed. "Long dark hair. Black as any Saiyan's, but dead straight. She was a bit taller than you. Only a year younger than me. She was strong; not physically, but mentally. Stubborn. And loud." Kakkarot smiled sadly. "I loved her. She was more like you than you could know," he told her.

Bulma blinked. It was the first time she had ever heard the word pass a Saiyan's lips. Love. So they did know what it was.

"What happened?" Bulma asked.

"She died," Kakkarot answered. "Giving birth to our son, Gohan."

"I'm sorry," Bulma whispered.

"It's six years today."

"Were you mated?" Bulma asked. Kakkarot nodded.

"Bonded. Not many Saiyans risk it. Normally when one dies, the other follows not long after. I survived, but only just. It was Gohan that got me through. I couldn't leave him. But he's gone now too. It makes it difficult some days. I'm sure you probably know better than most."

"What happened to him?" Bulma asked, mortified at what Kakkarot had been through and she'd never known.

"He killed himself and a group of others during a tournament. His power was too much for him to handle."

"I'm sorry," Bulma repeated. "I'm so sorry Kakkarot. I had no idea."

"It's OK. We're taught not to feel our emotions much. Saiyans get pretty good at shutting them out. And it's not like I'll ever have to deal with it again.

"Why not?" Bulma asked.

"When Saiyans mate," Kakkarot explained, "even if only one of the pair is Saiyan, it doesn't go away after we die. We stay bonded even though they're gone. I'll never have feelings like that for another woman, it's not possible."

"Wow," Bulma whispered. "It's kind of, tragically beautiful." Kakkarot half smiled as he put his arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah. I guess it is."

"It's been six months since Rainin died," Bulma said. "I don't know what's worse; the fact that he's gone or the fact that I face the rest of my life in the bed of his murderer." Kakkarot looked at her.

"I admire you for that Bulma. I couldn't do it. You have a strong heart." Bulma nodded.

"I don't know how I do it either. And between you and I I'm not sure how much longer I can do it."

Silence fell as the two sat quietly on the couch.

* * *

"Mayday, mayday, this is ground to control. Can you hear us, over?"

"This is control, what's your problem, over?"

"It's a mess. We're overrun. Contact the palace. We lost Bardock, over."

"Soldier, can you confirm that? You lost Bardock?"

"Affirmative, control. They were waiting for us. Bardock is captured. We did everything we could. It's over, he's gone. We need help. Our ship is destroyed."

"Can you confirm your location?"

"Unknown, control. Can you do a track?"

"One moment."

There was a static pause.

"Ahhhh," came the yell from the ground soldier.

"Soldier? What's going on?"

Another scream and a choking sound. There was the sound of something heavy hitting the ground and the line went dead.

The control officer pulled off his headset and turned slowly from his desk in his swivel chair.

"Get me the King," he said quietly. "Now."

"How could this happen?" King Vegeta growled. "Someone's head will roll for this. What do we know for sure?"

"They landed on the planet as per schedule. Then we heard nothing until that last call," answered the operator, a Saiyan named Tinuk.

"Who was the solider?"

"He didn't give his name, but we traced his scouter after we lost contact with him. He was a second class, it was only his first purge."

"And tell me again what we know from what he said?"

"Well he said that the attack had failed, the natives knew they were coming though God knows how. He said Bardock was captured and that it was over. That's all we got before…. Well I'm not quite sure what. I'm assuming he was killed."

"Is there anyone on the planet we can make contact with?" The King asked.

"We've been trying all night, your highness. Every now and then a signal pops up, but never long enough for us to trace it. We haven't had anything in the last two hours." King Vegeta slammed his hand down on the table and the leg cracked. "How did this happen?" the King repeated. A laugh came from someone next to him.

"Do you really have to ask?" came the voice of the prince. King Vegeta frowned.

"If you're implying that Bardock wasn't up for the challenge-"

"I wasn't getting at that. Though I suppose that should be called into question. I was referring to the one who suggested the purge in the first place."

As one, the eyes of the council left Tunik and the computer screen and came to rest on Srinak.

"Absolutely not. Not a chance. I will make this right your highness, whatever it takes I _will_ find Bardock. I take full responsibility for what has happened to him." Srinak was looking very apologetic. "I promise, I will find Bardock," he repeated.

"You'd better," King Vegeta answered. "Or I may just take a leaf out of my son's book and kill you." Srinak nodded.

* * *

Bulma sat in the main harem chambers, Kakkarot next to her. Vegeta was away for a change and so Bulma had been sent to the harem for the duration of his absence. He was due back in the next couple of hours. A group of Saiyans headed by the Prince had gone to a planet in another quadrant in an attempt to find out what had happened to Kakkarot's father and see if they could find any traces on the planet where he'd banished from. Bulma hadn't wanted to think about the idea that Kakkarot's father; whom judging by what Kakkarot said shared a similar nature to her Saiyan friend, would end up the same as the other poor soldiers who had returned home a babbling broken mess.

"Why was he sent on that purge anyway?" Bulma asked. "Isn't he, you know, like important?" Kakkarot nodded.

"Yeah. He's the King's Advisor. But Dad has a special gift. He doesn't really like to talk about it much because it's kind of a sensitive issue within the Saiyan people, but Dad's a seer."

"A seer? Like, he sees the future?" Bulma asked. Kakkarot nodded.

"Not by choice. He was born into it, the first male to have the gift in a long long time. He can't choose when or what he sees, the visions just come to him with absolutely no warning."

"Born into it? So it's like a genetic thing?"

"Yeah, I think so. But not a very common one."

"How peculiar. That's incredible. For a race that's so, no offence Kakkarot, but primitive. It's a pretty developed gift. Have Saiyans always been able to see? Well, some of them?"

"Kind of," Kakkarot answered. "They're really important and feature throughout our history."

"I don't know much about the Saiyans. Or their history, I mean considering I've been a slave on this planet for such a long time. Vegeta's not exactly great at educating me." Kakkarot gave a small laugh.

"I'm glad he hasn't ruined your sense of humour. Would you be interested in Saiyan history?" he asked her. Bulma shrugged.

"Well I hate your race, they destroyed my planet and your prince does things to me every night that no woman should ever have to endure. But my father on Buradea told me that the best way to beat your enemy was to know them. I guess it can't hurt. Could you teach me?" she asked Kakkarot. He shook his head.

"Not a chance. Dad spent years trying to teach me the Saiyan history, teach me the ins and outs of the changeover from the Oozaru form and the Kings of the past and what they did. It never stuck. I was more worried about what my next meal was going to be. But he has lots of books. I'm sure I can get you one." Bulma's face noticeably brightened.

"I would like that. It's been a long time since I read a book. At least it seems like a long time."

"Great. Well I'll bring it when I escort you back to Vegeta's chambers." Bulma smiled.

"Thanks Kakkarot." The tall Saiyan stood and started to leave. "Kakkarot," Bulma called after him. He stopped and turned to face her. "They'll find your father. Don't worry. I'm sure he's strong enough. "

"Thanks Bulma."

* * *

_Summary_

'_Vegeta-sei, known until only recently as Saru-sei, is a planet with life forms is around 25,000 years old, very young in terms of the universe. How long it existed before the first life form is a point of much debate, but has not been actively investigated. Estimates put it in the region of 125 – 175 million years old. There is little research to suggest why it remained uninhabited for so long, but of the few Saiyan scientists that have ever looked into it most suggest an unstable geothermic climate, resulting in a climate far too hot to sustain life. _

_In the beginning the Saiyan maintained the Oozaru form year round, except for two days a year when the moon disappeared behind the Kiyama Ranges and the Saiyan reverted to humanoid form. The Saiyan people lived as Oozaru for around 10,000 years, confined to their planet by their inability to maintain what we now recognize as the Saiyan form, and the associated intelligence. While the Saiyans had learned to control their Oozaru form to some degree, they were nowhere near their intellectual potential. _

_Prophecy has been a part of the Saiyan psyche for as long as history is recorded, thought it only manifested itself during the two days Saiyan form was taken. As such, prophecies at this time were very very rare, and it was a long time before they understood their impacts fully. The first recorded prophecy predicted that a Saiyan would rise from the mountains and liberate the race. At about 10,000 years this prophecy was fulfilled. A Saiyan named Vegeta was born to a family of the mountains. It was during his teenage years, during a time of Saiyan form that the young Vegeta had the initiative to destroy the moon. _

_The Saiyan race exploded and rocketed onto the universal stage. As the race began to spread across the planet they discovered the natural fortress carved into the side of the Kiyama Ranges, a range of mountains thousands of kilometers wide. This fortress was named Kairon. Set in a huge clearing at the top of the Eastern Kiyama Ranges, Kairon could only be reached by foot via a thin winding trail through the middle of a deep crevasse. At that point Saiyans had not developed the ability to fly, so Kairon was a strategic option. The capital city was established within a year, and the Saiyan people were quickly discovering that every time they were injured and survived, they healed stronger than they had been before._

_It was on the eve of the completion of Kairon that Vegeta-sei's second moon was discovered. It had never been noticed before because the Saiyans had lived on the other side of the planet and the moon had been hidden behind the Ranges. For two days the Saiyans returned to their Oozaru form. Vegeta had become the unofficial leader at this point, and was advised to destroy the moon. Vegeta was very old at this point, even by Saiyans standards; pushing nearly 250 years. Vegeta said he wouldn't destroy the moon, that it would be good for Saiyans to remember where they came from, and that he didn't want to deprive future generations of the 'release' that the Oozaru form provides. It was later learned that the moon appears only every ten years The night the moon first appeared became known from then on as Dentoyoru, the 'night of tradition' which is still celebrated. Some of the less traditional Saiyans, smitten with their newfound intelligence, believed Vegeta was wrong. They kept quiet for generations, passing their views onto their children. Vegeta passed away and his son became the next leader._

_It was Vegeta the 2__nd__, known historically now as Vegeta II, who first discovered the Saiyans' ability to fly, and Vegeta XI who first formed a ki ball. Saru-sei was at peace until the time of Vegeta XII. Vegeta XII was the cruelest Saiyan to have emerged at that point. He believed his forefathers had been too tough and, in his eyes, had allowed their potentially mighty race to become weak. In an effort to weed out the weak, Vegeta XII had an arena constructed, and on the eve of Dentoyoru, all the five year old Saiyan children were pitted against each other in a Battle Royale. The last 20 children alive were permitted to live. Vegeta XII ruled for fifty years. _

_The children of the rebels; those who believed that Vegeta I should have destroyed the moon; decided that their generation is the one to overthrow the leader and have the moon destroyed. There was a huge uprising and a battle that came to be known as the Great War. Vegeta XII is killed in battle. His son, Vegeta XIII became the first Super Saiyan and decimated the rebels. He didn't stop at those fighting, but continued and destroyed their families and connections. A few distant connections of the rebels escaped to the mountain ranges. Vegeta XIII's mistress, a prophet, prophesized that the Mountain Saiyans would return for the greatest battle the planet will see for thousands of years. _

_Vegeta XIII was instated as the first official king. A palace was built and the planet's name changed from Saru-sei to Vegeta-sei, after the mighty Super Saiyan. Vegeta XIII put huge emphasis on helping the Saiyans reach the fighting potential he believed they had. The blood-thirstiness of the race increases tenfold during his reign. Vegeta XIII begins to look at the possibility of travelling off world. He is the first to implement the classing system based on fighting power. He began the Royal Guard and was passionate about taking other planets under the control of what he named the "Saiyan Empire". It was his second, youngest son Furuto who began in his early adulthood to look at technology and science. He branched away from the Royal Family into a new wing of the palace and built the first Saiyan space pod. Manufacturing was quadrupled during this time and at 50 years old Vegeta XIV lead the first off world purging mission with four of his guards. It was a great success and the planet was conquered. Vegeta XIV's dreams were beginning to be realized. _

_The violence of the race increased dramatically across the next four generations as the Saiyans discovered a sadistic love for the pain and suffering of others. _

_Vegeta XX established the Saiyan Council in an attempt to give Vegeta-sei a greater standing with the unconquered world. The Saiyans always knew about prophecy. It had only be carried by one male in memory up to that point; Vegeta XIV; but he never embraced it, believing it was a weakness. Begrudgingly, women were instated to the council, in charge of Prophetic Studies. _

_By Vegeta XXII's time, Vegeta-sei was taking its place as one of the universe's super powers. The prophecy of the return from the mountains had been long forgotten until weeks before Vegeta XXIV's coronation, when the Minister of Prophetic Studies prophesized that the coronation is the stage for the return. She urged Vegeta XXIV to postpone it but the young king was foolhardy and wanted the crown. The coronation went ahead and was a massacre. The whole Royal Family excluding Vegeta XXIV were murdered and most of the council destroyed. The rebels desecrated Kairon and the "Blood War" lasted for 300 years. It was the darkest time in Saiyan history, and around half the population was destroyed. _

_It was Vegeta XXVI who re-established the council, and anyone connected to the rebels was hunted down by the newly reinstated Vegeta-sei army. That was the bloodiest part of the war. Anyone found connected to, hiding, supporting or standing up for rebels was killed in an effort to restore order. Miraculously, the Saiyan Empire managed to stay relatively stable throughout this period. _

_Around this time Saiyan women began refusing to take part in the council, because they were ignored anyway; as shown by the Blood War. _

_The legend of the Super Saiyan was passed on through the generations and as Kings come and go the Saiyans became increasingly feared throughout the universe. _

_The Battle Royale is continually held on Dentoyoru._

_Around the time of Vegeta XXX a first class woman prophesized that "In twice the past_ _the fourth will destroy the current Saiyan, which will in turn destroy the fourth but create the sixth, greater than the others, like nothing seen before. The future must become the past to prevent losing the fourth forever. So ends the darkness._ "

_The Saiyan people believed that the fourth referred to Earth; the fourth planet of the Quadrant. Earth was put under constant supervision. A working relationship and political truce was established with Earth. With the prophecy forgotten after Earth was put under surveillance, Vegeta-sei emerges as the unchallenged super power of the quadrant. _

_Around Vegeta XL's time slavery began. Purges were generally for entertainment purposes. _

_**Recent History Summary**_

_Vegeta CVIII was the first to have an advisor. Vegeta-sei began moving forward and prospering at an unchallenged rate, under Vegeta CVIII's leadership. He was also very interested in prophecies. When Vegeta CVIII received news that a male prophet had been born in the mountains in the Eastern Kiyama Ranges, he wasted no time in finding the fourteen year old child. The child, named Bardock, was trained for four years before being instated into the army and the council. When Bardock was around 30 years old and Vegeta CIX was barely 21, Vegeta CVIII was killed in battle and his son became king._

_In less than a year, Portar had stepped down from his position as King's Advisor (for full list of recent council members see Appendix 1) and gave up fighting in order to spend more time with the council. Bardock was instated as the new advisor and Vegeta CIX ruled successfully. The current prince was born when Vegeta CIX (known from now on as King Vegeta), was around 100 years old. _

_It was around this time that Bardock, Minister for Prophetic Studies, realized that the line "In two times the past" in the ancient prophecy of the downfall of the Saiyan refers to twice the time that had past when the prophecy was made. That time coincided with the current Prince Vegeta's birth. When this was realized, King Vegeta (Vegeta CIX) ordered the destruction of earth, despite the previous history between Vegeta-sei and Earth. King Vegeta was not big on prophecy like his father was and, while loathe to accept the influence It appears prophecy has, he was not willing to take chances. Prince Vegeta was four years old when Earth was destroyed._

_When the prince was twelve years old, Vegeta-sei was attacked by Earth's largest ally; Buradea. Prince Vegeta and King Vegeta were off-world at the time of the attack and nearly all the Saiyans were killed, except for the Council Members who managed to fight long enough to survive, the Saiyans who were off-world and those living in the ranges. King Vegeta's mate, Prince Vegeta's mother was killed during the attack. This attack became known to Saiyans and others as 'The Downfall".  
_

_All the off-world Saiyans were brought in, and those from the mountains were called. Quietly, the Saiyans began to rebuild their race. With the Prince leading alongside his father it was done in less than three years. The race harbor a mighty fury and lust for revenge against the Buradeans who nearly destroyed them. _

_For seven years the empire has been spreading and the Saiyan race has flourished unbelievably, to almost the levels it was before the Buradean attack. Prince Vegeta is widely revered and feared throughout the universe. He single handedly reclaimed almost a third of what is now the Saiyan Empire. Prince Vegeta is known to be ruthless, bloodthirsty and brutal. _

_There are many pages of the Saiyan history, still to be written, and there is a wide belief that the young Prince Vegeta will be a major part of the future.'_

Bulma put the book down.

Kakkarot's father was responsible for the death of her planet. Bulma's mind boggled at what she had learned, about the race and their history. Vegeta was more dangerous than she had ever let herself believe. And at the same time, she felt a slight pang of empathy for him; he too had lost his mother and nearly his entire people.

Bulma lay back on the bed and stared, unblinking, at the ceiling.


	7. Memory

Chapter 7

Bulma could hear them in the next room. Vegeta definitely didn't seem happy. She swallowed nervously. In the times when he was gone, she almost managed to convince herself she wasn't a pleasure slave, and to pretend like everything he'd done to her and her life had never happened.

But he was back. Like he always was, just when she started believing her fantasy of him being gone.

"So there was nothing?" she heard Kakkarot ask through the wall. There was silence, then Kakkarot sighed. Vegeta must have shaken his head.

"The place is deserted, not a ki signature on the planet. Wherever they took them, they're definitely on another planet."

"Well thank you Prince. I appreciate it." There was the sound of the door closing. Kakkarot had left. Bulma felt bile rise in her stomach. She sat, quietly, not sure what to expect, on the edge of the bed. The sound of another door and out the corner of her eye she saw a shadow fall.

"Woman," came the cold voice she'd hated since the moment she'd heard it. Bulma didn't answer. "WOMAN!" came the voice, louder and angrier this time. Bulma sat still, still not answering. The door flew open and she looked up and met those dark terrifying eyes she knew so well.

"Hello, Vegeta," she growled. Vegeta frowned angrily at her.

"That's Prince Vegeta t you, you whore."

"I'm not a whore," she told him defiantly. Bulma stood to face him, but the prince was still much taller than her. Her eyes ran across that face, over those cracks and wrinkles that belonged to a face much older than his, over the patterns of scars that she knew by heart, back to his eyes. Bulma had always believed that you could tell a lot about someone from their eyes. Her adoptive father on Buradea had told her that he believed you could see a man's soul through his eyes. It had never crossed Bulma's mind that she might look into the eyes of a man who didn't have a soul.

"You are a whore," Vegeta whispered, stroking her cheek almost gently. An uncontrollable shiver ran down Bulma's spine, a combination of fear, disgust and some surprise at the gentleness of his touch. "I own you," he whispered in her ear as he leant over. She could feel his breath on her neck. His hand slid around her hip, up her back and neck to the back of her head, where she felt his hand grab her hair. The pain of the tug caused her to gasp a little, but she didn't break the eye contact. Vegeta's grasp tightened on her hair and Bulma winced a little, but maintained contact.

Vegeta watched as the stubborn look in her eyes strengthened relative to his hold on her hair. He pulled back so that her head was titled upwards, her neck exposed. He had to admit, he was surprised she had survived this long. No concubine had survived more than a week of straight nights in his bed, yet here she was close to a year later. The task of breaking her had become less important as he became more interested in how long she could survive. Already she had shown strength beyond what he had believed her body could handle. In some ways, it just made him all the more determined to break her.

With his hand still holding her hair in a death grip, Vegeta ripped her shirt off with one fluid movement of his other hand. He watched as her chest heaved as she tried to ignore the pain.

"Stare all you like," Bulma hissed at him. "Because I'll _never_ be yours." Vegeta smirked and tossed her aside by her hair. She tripped and landed in a heap on the floor, but picked herself up straight away.

"Are you trying to be brave, or are you just stupid?" Vegeta hissed as she lifted her chin a little.

"Neither, Vegeta. I'm just done with you. I'm done with being your bed toy, existing for you to get your end away wherever and whenever you feel like it. I had a life before you and your horrid race came along. I had a family, someone who loved me, a future. Not that you'd know anything about what that's like," she snarled. Vegeta laughed, cold and distant.

"That's because I don't care. Enough of your incessant whining and moaning. I've had a long trip and now I'm going to use you like the whore and concubine you are." He was on her in a second, and had moved them to the bed where he pinned her beneath him. Vegeta ripped off her pants and then put one hand around her throat as he held himself up with the other. "Any you _are_ a whore. That's all you ever will be." He tightened his grasp on her throat as she began to choke and her face changed colour. "Don't ever forget it."

* * *

Bulma woke in a cold sweat, gasping and choking as she tried to get air. She could still feel Vegeta's hand around her throat from when he'd choked her the night before. For a moment she'd actually thought he was going to kill her. But she should have known he wouldn't make it that easier for her. Instead he'd only done enough to frighten her, and then proceeded to ravage her throughout the night. It was one of the worst nights she'd had at the horrid prince's hands. She had lost count of how many times she'd woken to his cold calloused hands on her body.

Bulma's breathing slowed as she began to realize that Vegeta wasn't there. Sunlight poured into the room, but she shivered nonetheless. Even warmth wasn't warm in the prison of Vegeta's room. And so she did the only thing she could think of to make things better. Bulma closed her eyes and let her mind drift to the times before Vegeta, when she'd had a future. It wasn't much, but these days it was all she had.

* * *

"It's unacceptable," King Vegeta announced. "Bardock isn't just a soldier. He must be found, I don't care if we have to search every planet in the god-damned universe. "

"What I want to know and what concerns me," Kortinar said "is what sort of enemy had the power not only to capture Bardock but to hoodwink an entire purging squad, overpower them and ensure that none of us had a clue about it."

"Not only that," Portar interjected, "but why? Why Bardock? Clearly they knew he was going to be on the purge, he was obviously the target."

"Enough with the questions and speculating," Prince Vegeta spoke. "Go and _do _something about it for god's sake! You're Saiyan warriors, not run down old men!"

"For once my son is right. I want every inch of man power we can get to be focused on this thing, that includes the tech slaves in the labs. I want every Saiyan we can spare off planet investigating this. No one rests until we know who took Bardock and what the hell they want. I want a team to look at this 'Leader' figure some more too. I found it highly unlikely that the two are unrelated."

There was a chorus of silent nods.

* * *

A scream filled the air, the sound of a man in so much pain it was impossible to understand how he could still be alive. The screaming stopped but was replaced by a desperate attempt to stem back tears and sobs and more screams.

"You know how to make it stop," came a dark voice, one that the man knew but couldn't place. He had no idea how long he'd been there. Or where he was. Or if he was even still alive. No, he must be alive. Even Hell couldn't hurt this much. The voice spoke again. "I know you know. You have what I want. Tell me, Bardock."

Bardock. That name rang a bell. Somewhere in his mind he remembered where. It was his name. God, how long had he been here that he had forgotten his own name? Months? Years? It all blurred into one here.

"I don't know – what you're – talking about," Bardock choked out. "I don't know –" his sentence stopped as he began to scream again. It was a sound that would reduce anyone who heard it to a sobbing mess. Anyone except the owner of that voice. They were totally removed, not only able to listen to the screams, but also to cause them. Bardock slumped in his shackles that held him to the wall as the pain stopped again. He tried to regain his breath in what he knew was only a moment's reprieve.

"I'll only ask you one more time Bardock, and then I'm going to have to get serious."

'_Get serious?'_ Bardock thought. He couldn't imagine anything worse than what he was currently enduring. It seemed impossible.

"How many times – do I have to tell you?" Bardock heaved. "I don't know – anything."

The voice sighed. "You leave me no choice, Bardock." There was a few moments silence and then the screaming began again as Bardock moved into a world of pain he hadn't believed could possibly exist.

* * *

"Get your clothes, woman," came Vegeta's voice, angry as usual. Bulma looked up from her trance like state on the couch.

"What?" she asked. Vegeta was at her in a second and backhanded her across the face.

"Learn some respect or I swear to god I'm going to kill you, you little bitch," he snarled. Bulma rolled her eyes.

"Go ahead. It'd be the best thing you ever did." Vegeta glared at her but decided not to answer her comment directly.

"Get your things," he repeated. "We're going away." Bulma frowned.

"Oh, on some romantic holiday, well what a great trip that's going to be." He backhanded her across the face again, drawing flood from her mouth as her teeth connected with her lip. Bulma sucked her lip gently.

"I'm going to find Bardock. You're coming along. It's going to be a long trip and I need a concubine while I'm gone. I leave in five minutes." He turned and walked away from her. Bulma stood there for a moment. So that was why he'd been so lenient. A remark like she'd made about a romantic holiday would normally have seen her severely beaten, but Kakkarot had told her that the regen tank resources on ships were not as up to date as those on the planet. Vegeta didn't want to take her along only to have his favourite bed toy spend the whole trip in the regen tank. Bulma smirked. Well at least that might work to her advantage.

Suddenly there came a knock at the door and the door opened. Bulma smiled a rare smile as Kakkarot stepped through the door.

"Is Prince Vegeta about?" he asked. Bulma went to answer him but Vegeta had already appeared.

"What is it Kakkarot?"

"I came to speak to you about your concubine sir," Kakkarot spoke. Bulma blinked. Kakkarot wasn't one to speak about her like she wasn't there. Vegeta frowned.

"And what about my concubine, Kakkarot?" There was a tone of warning in his voice.

"Sir, I must only register my concern for your favourite toy. There will be 300 Saiyan men aboard the ship, none of who will have a woman for two months. My suggestion is that it's not wise to bring your concubine along Prince. Not out of concern for her safety, but because I know how protective you are of your things sir. If one of the soldiers was to get to them, we both know you would kill him instantly. This mission is of upmost importance, especially to me Prince, and we don't need fighting amongst our troops if it can be avoided."

Bulma blinked again, not believing what she was hearing. Since when had she become 'the concubine' to Kakkarot?

Vegeta paused for a moment, clearly weighing up what Kakkarot had said against his undoubtedly strong desire to have his bed toy on board the ship.

"Very well, Kakkarot, I see your point. My only demand is that you remain behind in my absence, to ensure that no Saiyan uses it in my absence."

Bulma was outraged. It? She did have a gender. She opened her mouth to argue the point with Vegeta but a look from Kakkarot silenced her.

"Moreover you are too emotionally invested in this purge. Most Saiyans I would permit on this mission despite the father-son relationship, but unfortunately, Kakkarot, you are weak-minded and soft when it comes to emotion. Your pathetic feelings will only complicate my mission." This time it was Kakkarot who looked like he was going to say something, but thought the better of it at the last minute.

"As you wish. I only ask that you keep me informed as much as possible if you can, Prince." Vegeta nodded.

"Since I'll be without my concubine for a protracted period, I have some business to take care of before I depart. Leave Kakkarot." Vegeta turned his attention to Bulma. Bulma watched Kakkarot go, saw the sad, apologetic look he saw as he walked through the door and left her with Vegeta. Alone with him. Again.

Fear found its way to Bulma's throat as she observed the maniacal look in Vegeta's eyes as he advanced on her. She backed up and her fear doubled as she felt the wall hit her from behind.

"Come here," Vegeta snarled. Bulma gave a small sob as he began and tried her best to block it out.

* * *

"Tell me. And I'll kill you. I promise, it'll all be done if you just tell me. Then it will all be better. It's the best thing to do. You need to tell me."

The voice was gentle, velvety. It sounded so kind. How could such a beautiful voice lie? It must be telling the truth. Maybe he did need to tell them? On some level he felt there was a reason he shouldn't but he couldn't quite remember why. Sometimes he had trouble remembering what they even wanted him to tell them. Things were so confusing. Nothing really seemed real unless the voice told him it was. Maybe the voice was right, things would be so much easier if he told them. After all, he couldn't think of a good reason not to. And the voice really needed to know. He wasn't sure why, but he knew it did.

"What do you want to know again?" he asked with a somewhat dreamy voice and a dazed blank look on his face, like he was staring at something that no one else could see.

"The prophecy Bardock. About the downfall of the Saiyans. What is it? You need to tell me. It will make everything better."

He sighed. He wasn't sure if he should tell the voice. Something told him not to. But the voice, it was all he could remember. It must be right. Maybe if he told them then everything would be better and he wouldn't be confused anymore. He thought really hard as he tried to remember what the voice was talking about. As he thought, he began to realize that he was saying the words out loud.

"In twice the past the fourth will destroy the current Saiyan, which will in turn destroy the fourth but create the sixth, greater than the others, like nothing seen before. The future must become the past to prevent losing the fourth forever. So ends the darkness."

There was silence. Where did the beautiful voice go? Had he said something wrong?

"Twice the past? The fourth? The sixth? What does it mean. Tell me!"

He recoiled. The voice was angry. Why was it angry?

"Twice the past, means twice the time that had passed since the property was made. The fourth. Well, that meant Earth. That's why we destroyed Earth, so they couldn't ruin us. The sixth, well I never quite figured that bit out." He didn't care what he had to tell them. Anything to stop the voice being angry at him.

There was silence. Where had the beautiful voice gone? Was it still there?

"I'm sorry if it's not what you wanted to hear. We stopped the prophecy when we destroyed Earth."

The voice still remained silent.

"My time has been wasted. You must now die, Bardock."

Die? That sounded nice. He didn't think there would be any pain there.

"OK," he answered.

* * *

_The little boy stood, back pressed hard against the wall and peered around the corner. He could see her climbing into one of the ornamental pots that decorated the main hall of the palace. He counted for a few moments, then shouted "Ready or not, here I come." Stepping out from his hiding place the young prince strode purposefully towards the pot. He rolled his eyes when the pot giggled._

"_Found you," he sighed exasperatedly. A young girl, younger than himself, with aqua blue hair and similarly blue eyes, climbed out of the pot._

"_You cheated," she pouted. The boy rolled his eyes again._

"_I can sense your energy anyway. This game is pointless, I always win."_

"_Only because you cheat!" The two children headed down the main hall._

"_Well, I'll see you later," the girl said as she turned into one of the rooms._

"_Yea see you later B-chan," he nodded, and the two turned their separate ways._

Bulma awoke with a start, crying and covered in sweat. It took her a moment to realize where she was, her panicked state not helped by her strange surroundings. She slowly relaxed as she began to recognize the common room of the concubine lounge. Her thoughts turned slowly back to her dream. It was a memory from her childhood, of times playing hide and seek with Rainin in the palace. He had always beaten her, being able to sense her energy, but she made him play anyway. Bulma smiled gently to herself as she closed her eyes, trying to hold on to as much of the dream as possible. Her dreams had been better in the month that Vegeta had been gone. Bulma had almost grown to enjoy her day life too. She spent most of the day with the other concubines and then slept in the lounge at night. Aside from the frequent interruptions from Saiyan men seeking concubines, the stay was almost what Bulma would call pleasant.

Bulma quickly checked the time and decided there was no point going back to sleep. Instead she packed up her things and headed for the shower.

Kakkarot came to collect her around ten. Sunday was his day off and he generally spent it with her. Bulma looked forward to her Sundays with Kakkarot all week. Last week he had taken her to the huge structure they used for their Dentoyoru celebrations, the Raisem. Bulma was fascinated by it. She felt that in another life, where she wasn't the captive of the nation's prince, that she may have enjoyed learning about the Saiyans and their way of life.

"Where are we going today?" Bulma asked him. Kakkarot smiled.

"Well since my father's missing, I'd like to show you somewhere that's really important to him and our family."

"That sounds great," Bulma smiled. Kakkarot picked her up in his arms and flew in the direction of the mountains.

It wasn't long before they arrived. From a distance Bulma could see a large stone building. As they got closer she could see that it was more of an open structure than a building. Four massive stone pillars, three men around held up four more stone pillars in a square formation. Where there should have been a roof the structure opened to the heavens. When Kakkarot put her down in front of the structure, Bulma noticed a large stone tablet in the centre of the structure.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"Deep in the Kiyama Ranges. Few Saiyans know this place exists. It was the site of the first council meeting of the seers. We call it the Ancient Alter. My father and others who….. well think along his lines of prophecy and things, they believe this place is magic. It's the oldest structure built by Saiyans, as far as we know. Dad thinks there's 'Old Magic' here."

"Old Magic?" Bulma asked. "I don't remember reading about that in the books you gave me?"

"Yeah, it's not something that really gets published. It's sort of handed down through generations through stories because most Saiyans don't believe it exists."

"Do you?" Bulma asked. Kakkarot shrugged. "So what is it?" Bulma asked.

"Dad says he thinks it's what other planets call a god; a higher power or something. The seers believed its where they got their power from. I dunno. Personally I think it's pretty farfetched." Bulma nodded. Farfetched though it may be, the place had a very strong aura about it, not just the alter, but everything around it. She wandered over to a strange plant she'd never seen before and gently cupped the flower. Kakkarot walked over beside her. She sighed and sat down on the grass. Kakkarot stared up at her.

"Was Vegeta always so horrible?" Bulma asked. Kakkarot shrugged and sat down next to her.

"As long as I remember him he has been. Dad said he wasn't so bad when he was younger. I think Dad actually quite liked him in the early days." Bulma snorted.

"I find that difficult to believe. I couldn't imagine how anyone could like Vegeta. Ever."

"Bulma," Kakkarot's voice had a warning tone about it. "Regardless of what he does to you he's my Prince and I'm honour bound to protect his name. Don't make me do that." Bulma swallowed and nodded. Kakkarot had never threatened her before.

"Sorry," she apologized. Kakkarot nodded. "I just can't imagine him being anything other than the cold, sadistic monster that he is…." she trailed off at a warning look from Kakkarot. "Sorry," she repeated.

"Dad says he did used to have a friend. Like an actual friend. When he was a kid. I think they died. But I asked Dad about it once, he said they were inseparable. " Bulma frowned. She couldn't imagine Vegeta being inseparable from anything except the blackness in his soul. God how she hated him.

"Well I find that a little difficult to believe," Bulma said. Kakkarot laughed.

"Yeah. I did too. Dad says they used to run round the palace all the time. Once they set all the animals in the science lab free. It was mayhem." Bulma smiled a little. She remembered herself and Rainin doing something similar back on Buradea. "The strangest thing about it was that apparently his friend wasn't even Saiyan. They were brought from another planet to be studied and for some reason Vegeta took to them straight away." Bulma raised an eyebrow. That was even more difficult to believe. Vegeta considered Saiyans so far above every other race, it was impossible to think his best friend had been an alien.

"Wow. I guess things were pretty different then. When did he change?"

"After the Downfall. When the Buradeans destroyed most of the planet. Vegeta's mother was killed in the attack, I think that his friend was too. After that he was totally different. Cold, robotic. Like the Saiyans of old. The Vegeta that I know today was definitely born after the Downfall." Bulma nodded. That wasn't so impossible to understand. Vegeta would have only been young, to lose his best friend and his mother; well it wasn't surprising that he became a deranged mass murderer. She can't imagine his bloodthirsty Saiyan father would have been very supportive or compassionate during that time.

Somewhere deep, deep, deep inside her, in a place where she could forget what he did to her, Bulma felt the slightest bit sorry for Vegeta.

"Dad says they used to play games in the castle; the queen enjoyed it and let Vegeta have his fun. The king wasn't so keen on it but I think that his wife kept him quite controlled." Bulma found it difficult to imagine a women controlling the king. Then again, she'd never met a Saiyan woman and if they were anything like the men, they'd be a force to be reckoned with. "Anyway their favourite game was hide and seek. Vegeta's friend hid, and then he had to go looking. But Vegeta could –"

"Read energy levels and always found her?" Bulma finished his sentence with a strange tone in her voice and her eyes looking slightly scared.

Kakkarot raised an eyebrow and nodded.

"Yeah. But they played it day in day out regardless." Bulma swallowed and began to feel cold despite the warmth outside. Surely it was just coincidence. It _had _to be.

"His friend, where were they from? Were they a boy or girl?" Kakkarot frowned.

"I'm not sure. Dad never really mentioned. I think it might possibly have been a girl. Dad said you would have sworn she – yeah, it was definitely a she – was a Saiyan. Except she had funny hair. That was why they took her to experiment on."

Bulma's mind was racing. Surely it had to be coincidence. There was no way.

Memories of her dream from that morning came back.

"_I can sense your energy anyway. This game is pointless, I always win."_

Should she mention it to Kakkarot? He'd think she was mad. Hell, _she_ thought she was mad. Her mind was just messed up, that was all. She was making things up. Things that couldn't possibly be true. Could it?

"Kakkarot, I'm not feeling too well, can we go back?" He looked at her with a slight hint of concern.

"Yeah, sure," he said. He picked her up and the two of them headed back to the castle.

* * *

"Prince Vegeta! Prince Vegeta over here! Quickly!" Vegeta powered up and rocketed in the direction of the voice. They were on a deserted planet where they'd picked up a strange ki signature. They were a month into their trip and so far had found no sign of Bardock. Several strange ki signatures had turned out to be a large range of creatures, but none of them Bardock.

Vegeta dropped out of flight next to the soldier who had called for him. They were in a huge old warehouse that looked like it had been uninhabited since it had been built.

"What is it?" Vegeta demanded. The soldier turned around and handed him what was unmistakably a chip of white Saiyan armour with gold trim. Vegeta's whole body went tense as he pushed a button on his headset. "All units report to my location immediately. Keep your guards up, we have evidence of a Saiyan on the planet. I repeat, be very careful. Whoever did this may still be here."

Vegeta cast out for a recognizable ki signature but found nothing. Slowly he and the squad headed forward.

They searched for three hours. At the end of the warehouse, in the far back corner they found a closed door. Vegeta kicked the door off its hinges and light burst into what had previously been a darkened room. With the door gone, Vegeta finally felt the slight flicker of a ki signature. Using a ki ball in his palm to light up the room, Vegeta stepped forward.

A body lay before him. Thin, beyond the point of emaciation and muscle wasting. Thinner than any of the bodies that had come back in the space pods all those months ago. It lay face down, unmoving. Vegeta searched for a ki signature and found nothing, but there was no mistaking that trademark hair that had passed from father to his son.

"Bardock," Vegeta growled. He squatted down next to the body and rolled it over. The face was barely recognizable. Blood and dirt covered every inch of skin. The eyes were sunken back into his head they didn't even look like they were there. Vegeta could feel the anxious fear from the troops behind him. Every one of them held their breath. Vegeta closed his eyes and reached out for a ki signature, for any sign of life. It was impossible with the state he was in.

And then there it was. Tiny, fleeting, gone as quickly as it had come, but a definite flicker of Bardock.

"He's alive," Vegeta growled. Vegeta slowly scooped Bardock up, the man weighing little more than a Saiyan child. The troops followed quietly, none of them speaking. There were very few men who didn't respect and admire Bardock. But the well known Saiyan was now far from the Bardock the men knew. Vegeta lay Bardock down outside the warehouse.

"Bring the ship here. Now!" he snapped. Several Saiyans rocketed off in the direction of the ship. Vegeta pushed his headset.

"Control. This is your Prince. Get me my father. Now."


	8. The Meeting Horn

Chapter 8

"This is Vegeta. How is he?" the voice of the king crackled through the headset a few moments later. The young Vegeta watched as Bardock was rushed into the hospital wing of the aircraft and the craft blasted quiclly away from the abandoned planet. Bardock's skeletal frame lay still and unmoving on the hospital bed and Vegeta walked quickly behind it.

"He's not good," Prince Vegeta replied. He turned the small camera on his headset so that his father could see Bardock. Vegeta heard a sharp intake of breath from his father and whoever else was on the receiving end of the image.

"Good god," he whispered. The king was silent for a moment and Vegeta moved the headset back.

"Get him in the tanks," Vegeta called. "NOW! If Bardock dies, every med tech on this ship and Saiyan who had something to do with him will be dead by my hand." He turned his attention to his father. "He hasn't been conscious since we found him. It was only a fluke that we came across him, a soldier found a chipped piece of Saiyan armour that virtually lead us to him."

"He looks far worse than any of the Saiyans that came home in the pods," came the voice of Kortinar from somewhere in the background.

"Indeed," the king affirmed. "Has he said anything? No mention of this 'leader'?"

Vegeta shook his head.

"Negative."

"And what about the planet you found him? Was there anyone else there? Where was he?"

"There wasn't a living soul on the planet that the scanners could find or that any Saiyan could feel. If there are others there they are in similar condition to Bardock, but the planet was searched thoroughly. The planet doesn't even have a name, it's never been mapped, never been suspected of having life on it. Judging by the looks of it something existed there once, but a very, very long time ago. The warehouse where we found him seemed abandoned, but only recently built," the prince answered. There was silence at the other end. It was clear to everyone that the building where Bardock had been found had been built with its purpose as his prison in mind. Who could build a prison strong enough to hold a Saiyan, and then actually _capture_ a Saiyan, let alone one as strong as Bardock. And a seer. "Are you any closer to this leader rubbish?" Vegeta asked.

"Nothing. No record of anyone calling themselves the leader in the entire Saiyan library. No one we've had contact with has ever heard of them. We were even thinking of resorting to the publications of the seers but only Bardock had access to them so that wasn't possible," Kortinar answered.

'Didn't have access to,' was Kortinar's politically correct way of saying that the other Saiyans considered prophecies to be a load of rubbish and wouldn't be caught dead with prophecy related books in their possession.

"Right well I have to go," Vegeta said quickly.

"Keep us updated," King Vegeta told him. Vegeta nodded curtly, switched off his headset and threw it onto a nearby bench. Medics lifted Bardock's sad excuse for a body onto a table to prepare him for the regen tank. Their slowness frustrated Vegeta.

"Hurry up!" he yelled again, slamming his fist onto the metal workbench and forming a sizeable fist shaped dent. "Get him in the tank!" The medics flustered a little and started moving quicker. In a few moments the patches were attached and Bardock was hooked up, ready to place in the machine when it happened. A moment that would stay with Vegeta for a long time, and a name that would never leave him.

Bardock, who had previously shown no sign of life sat bolt upright on the table, cords attached to his chest, temples and all over his body. His eyes opened wide and with a voice that Vegeta both recognized and didn't, he screamed.

"SRRIIINNNAAAKKK!"

Vegeta frowned and ran over to his fellow council member.

"Bardock. Bardock this is your prince speaking. What happened? What about Srinak? Speak to me!" he demanded. Bardock turned slowly to look at the source of the voice. His eyes met Vegeta's and Vegeta felt something strange pass through him.

"Prince Vegeta," Bardock regarded with a slight incline of his head. "My Prince. It's good to see you." Vegeta frowned. Of all the things he had expected Bardock to say, a civil greeting had been the least of them. Suddenly Bardock looked tired and lay down, his breathing shaky.

"Bardock," Vegeta said again. "What happened?" Bardock breathed slowly a few more times.

"I'm so tired. It's been so long since I slept. I must sleep, Prince. But before I sleep, you must know. It was Srinak."

"What was?" Vegeta demanded.

"He's the leak. The mole. He's been working with the leader. It was him that relayed the information about our purges to the leader so he could capture our soldiers. He betrayed us, Vegeta. He organized the purge I went on so the leader could catch me so I could tell him…" Bardock trailed off.

"Tell him what? Tell him what, Bardock?" Vegeta pressed. Bardock let out a deep sigh.

"I don't… remember…" Bardock trailed off again, his breathing slowing as he either fell asleep or lost consciousness. Vegeta turned to the medics.

"Get him in the tanks. _Now_," he whispered in a voice of deathly seriousness.

* * *

Bulma looked up as the door of the harem burst open, feeling the horrible feeling she felt every time it did so. Slamming doors meant an angry or drunk Saiyan, which meant they took one of the girls who had become Bulma's friends, and often meant that they didn't return. But instead of seeing a red faced brute, it was Kakkarot who burst through the door. Bulma was startled to see him there, but unsurprised when he made a beeline for her.

"They've found my father," he blurted out, unable to hold back a smile on his face. Bulma beamed back at him.

"Kakkarot, that's wonderful," she smiled, her own issues and reservations about Bardock taking the back burner for the moment. Kakkarot nodded.

"They haven't said how he is or where he was, but they've found him. Not too far from our planet. They'll be here in two hours." Bulma smiled at her Saiyan friend, leaning forward and hugging him. For once, Kakkarot returned the embrace, much to the astonishment of Bulma's fellow harem residents. No doubt Kakkarot was the first and probably last Saiyan they had seen behave in such a way. Bulma sat on the couch and took Kakkarot's hand, guiding him to sit next to her.

"That's fantastic. I'm so pleased for you. I'm sure he'll be OK," she added. Kakkarot nodded. She was about to say something when, again, the doors of the harem burst open. This time nearly thirty immaculately dressed Saiyan soldiers in uniform burst through the door in ranks three abreast. They spread out into the harem and stood in lines, before one Saiyan started speaking.

"We come with the King's permission to interrogate and question any concubine in order to obtain information regarding issues of national security. Those who do not co-operate will be killed on the spot. You have been given warning. Line up in single file, NOW!" the voice of the leading Saiyan yelled.

Fear and mayhem broke out amongst the concubines before Zarna quickly managed to quiet them. Bulma looked confusedly at Kakkarot, who looked back with the same look.

"I'll find out what's going on," he told her.

"Soldier!" Kakkarot yelled at the Saiyan who had spoken. "What is the reason for your orders?" The Saiyan looked at Kakkarot with disdain.

"Do not speak to me like that scumbag, I am the commanding office-" he stopped as Kakkarot's fingers closed around his throat, crushing his windpipe.

"And _I_ am Kakkarot Bardocksson, my father is the King's Advisor and I am the Prince's most valued and respected training partner and comrade," Kakkarot narrowed his eyes and glared at the Saiyan, "Now answer me," he said in a voice of deathly calm. The Saiyan looked taken aback, but nodded slightly.

"The orders come from both Prince and King Vegeta. I don't know the specifics behind it, you will have to speak to one of the Council, but for some reason Srinak has been declared an enemy of the state, the most wanted person on Vegeta-sei and is wanted alive for crimes against the Saiyans." Kakkarot blinked slightly. Whatever he had been expecting the soldier to say, what he heard wasn't it. Srinak was public enemy number one? When had that happened.

"Thank you soldier. Continue as you were. But believe my word when I tell you, these concubines know nothing. I will be taking Prince Vegeta's personal concubine with me. Believe me when I tell you it is not worth your life to lay your hands on her," Kakkarot spoke with a tone of warning. The soldier clearly got the message, because he nodded silently and made no move to stop Kakkarot as he walked back, took Bulma by the arm and marched her from the harem.

He marched her up the halls, in and out of a labrythine layout Bulma was sure she would never learn her way around, until they finally arrived at a door Bulma recognized as that of the council room. Expecting to be left outside, Bulma was surprised when Kakkarot pushed the door open and entered the room, with her in tow.

As was normal, his demeanour around her changed in the presence of other Saiyans. He walked her into the council room by the upper part of her arm and then shoved her roughly onto the ground. She bounced off the wall from the strength of his shove and landed in a heap.

Several men at the council table looked up. Bulma diverted her gaze back to the ground and tried not to move. These men would kill her in an instant and she knew it.

"Kakkarot, you have heard the news?" came a voice she didn't recognize.

"Part of it. I heard that my father had been located. Then while I was in the harem I find out that Srinak has been declared a traitor? Are they related?" Kakkarot's tone was demanding, a quality that surprised Bulma because even she knew he was in the presence of Saiyan's far his superior not necessarily physically but in position. They seemed to tolerate it OK and one of them answered.

"I'm afraid they are. We have received communication from Prince Vegeta," Bulma shuddered at the name "aboard the rescue ship that shortly after leaving the planet your father roused and screamed Srinak's name, going on to divulge that Srinak has been the leak responsible for alerting this "Leader" to the planets we were going to purge. He has been helping them capture the 'pod Saiyans' and appears to have orchestrated your father's entire purging mission with the intention of helping the Leader catch your father. They planned for him to tell them something, but Vegeta says Bardock doesn't remember what." That was the voice of the Saiyan King. Bulma knew that voice. Kakkarot was silent.

"How is my father?" he asked.

"Not good. They thought he was dead when they found him. He has been starved and tortured beyond anything even Vegeta has seen before. His body is sick, but fortunately his mind somehow seems intact. It is hard to know though, at this early stage. He is in the regen tank and we won't know anymore until he gets out." Kakkarot was silent again.

"Srinak?" he said incredulously. There was silence, and Bulma guessed they were nodding. The silence prevailed for a while and no one spoke. Then the king's voice could be heard again.

"Srinak is a traitor to his blood and his race. Once he is found he will receive a public traitor's death. But he _must_ be found."

"Undoubtedly," Kakkarot stated.

"Who is that?" came a new voice, and a question Bulma was sure was directed at her as she felt countless eyes suddenly land on her.

"Vegeta's concubine," Kakkarot answered dismissively with a wave of his hand. "I was told the prince is only hours away and it is my experience he likes to have this particular concubine cleaned and waiting when he arrives from purges and missions."

"Ooooh yes," came the king's voice. Bulma thought she heard him get up. The sound of footsteps approached her. She held her gaze intently on the floor. "I remember. The Buradean from the Volrun sales. What a find she was. She certainly has kept him entertained. Look up at my, concubine." Bulma stared defiantly at the floor. The king asked again. Still Bulma stared at the floor.

"Clearly my son hasn't taught you any manners you piece of Buradean-" he stopped mid sentence as he wrenched her head up to look at him. His face faltered upon seeing hers. Clearly he had been expecting the dark mocha skin of the Buradeans, not the pale, translucent skin that looked back at him. "Human?" he whispered, almost inaudibly. It was Bulma's turn to start. The king was the first Saiyan to recognize her for her true species. Their eyes met for a few moments and Bulma saw many things, strange things in his eyes, but none of which she could place. If she had to name it, dare she say it, it would almost have been fear. A combination of fear and almost disbelief. But it was gone so quickly, she was sure she had imagined it. "Yes," he mused. "I can see why you enthrall my son so." He let her face go and turned to Kakkarot. "Very well Kakkarot. Return this concubine to my son's quarters. You have my permission to meet the ship when it docks in fourty-five minutes. Platform E."

Kakkarot offered his thanks to the king, bowed slightly, gave his respects to the council and then grabbed Bulma so roughly by the arm that she yelped and dragged her from the room. Once the door was shut he let her go, but it wasn't until they were well out of Saiyan earshot that he offered an apology for his treatment of her. Bulma dismissed it, she understood the need for appearances. They were nearly at Vegeta's quarters when Kakkarot asked her the strangest question.

"Did you spit at the king?" he asked. Bulma frowned, confused.

"What? No, why?" she asked.

"That look on his face, I've never seen it before."

"Oh. Yeah. I thought he looked a bit funny. He was expecting me to be Buradean, maybe that was it."

"Maybe," Kakkarot answered. They fell into silence, though it was apparent that neither of them believed Bulma's explanation for the king's strange reaction to her. They reached the door and Kakkarot pulled it open. "Vegeta will be home in half an hour or so. I'd imagine there are some politics to attend to by the sounds of it but I'm sure he won't be far away." Kakkarot gave her what was almost a sad smile. Bulma tried to smile bravely back at him.

"I'll be fine, I always am. Go and see your father." Kakkarot shot her a look of appreciation and with a gentle touch to her shoulder he was gone.

The large heavy door slid shut behind her and Bulma was once again alone in Vegeta's room.

Trapped.

* * *

"My Prince!" Kortinar called as the ships door opened and the trademark hair of the royal family presented itself against the silhouette of engine steam and smoke. Vegeta strode forward in a purposeful movement. He spoke to no one. Several voices called to him but the young prince ignored all of them and was soon gone from the docking bay. The myriad of confused looks evaporated as another figure appeared at the top of the ramp.

The regen tank came slowly to the beginning of the ramp, chaperoned by a large number of Saiyans and a larger number of medics. The tank was slowly wheeled down the ramp where the Saiyan crowd parted. A curtain was drawn across the glass front of the regen tank to protect Bardock's dignity but it didn't stop heads craning, trying to glimpse a look at their fallen comrade. The tank was quickly wheeled from sight once it was on flat ground and the council members turned to each other as discussion broke out. It wasn't long before the discussion was broken by a strange sound.

The sound was similar to that of a war horn, though more high pitched. Its tune rumbled through the city at speed, a sound that could be heard thousands of leagues away.

"The Meeting Horn?" Kortinar questioned, looking at King Vegeta. King Vegeta nodded.

"Clearly my son has something he feels our nation needs to hear." As he said this, the Saiyan Council looked into the sky which had suddenly become black, a roof of Saiyans so thick they almost blotted out all light, heading to the castle. Above the city they looked like the largest insect swarm that had ever amassed.

The Meeting Horn was a part of the Saiyan history going back almost as far as the race itself. When Kurainoie had been built the Saiyans of the time had built a magnificent horn which they used in times of need to call all the Saiyans together. It could be heard as far as the Kiyama Ranges, and every Saiyan knew that anyone who ignored its call faced execution as punishment, if they were discovered.

"Well I suppose we'd better move," Peris commented. As one, the council levitated into the sky and flew for the palace.

* * *

Vegeta stood on the outside balcony of the council room. In the courtyard below and the sky above, thousands upon thousands of Saiyans waited. Vegeta looked slowly around them. Behind him he could feel the presence of the Saiyan War Council . The air was thick with anticipation and a nervous excitement. It was the first time in over two hundred years that the Meeting Horn had been blown. Many of the Saiyans gathered there had never heard it in their lifetime. It was obvious that there was only one question racing through the mind of every Saiyan there. Why had they been called?

Vegeta started to speak.

"My Saiyans," he began, sensing, rather than seeing his father twitch behind him at the address 'my Saiyans'. "There is a traitor in our midst."

A buzz of noise broke out amongst the gathered Saiyans. Traitors were something the Saiyan people took very seriously. It was an offence punishable by public humiliation and death. Every Saiyan knew that.

"As of two hours ago, former council member Srinak Torai has been declared an enemy of the state of Vegeta-sei for crimes against the council, the people and the monarchy. Srinak has been identified as being a leak in the Saiyan council and the Pod Saiyans are a direct result of his actions."

The crowd exploded into a furious tirade as kis flared and emotions raged. There were very few Saiyans who didn't know or weren't connected to at least one Pod Saiyan. It was a crime against the race, and as such a crime against each individual Saiyan.

"Saiyans!" Vegeta roared, and the crowd fell quiet. "I now present to you a challenge. Bring me Srinak Torai _alive_ and you will receive riches and rewards beyond your imagining. On top of this, I offer you the choice of any concubine from the royal harem of Vegeta-sei as your prize. Bring me Srinak!" Vegeta roared. The Saiyans exploded into a mighty display of multicoloured kis so large it blocked out the sky.

It was when the crowd was gone that Vegeta felt his father's furious presence behind him.

"How _dare_ you send me people on a manhunt? How _dare_ you offer my money and concubines as rewards. By the power of god boy I will have your head for this." Vegeta thrust out a hand that connected with the king's chest as the older Vegeta made a beeline for his son. The young Vegeta didn't look up, continued to stare at the ground.

"Again, father. Your time on the throne is limited. Do not do yourself the embarrassment of forcing me to end it sooner. Srinak is dealt with. He will be found. And executed by my own hand." Vegeta looked up and met his father's gaze. Should you try to interfere in any way, you will share his fate."

Vegeta strode from the room without a further word. The king, fury etched on his face, turned after him but was stopped by Kortinar's hand on his arm.

"Let him go my king. He has saved you the task of finding Srinak, but there are much bigger issues afoot here. Much bigger than the young prince can even begin to imagine. Come, your highness."

King Vegeta sighed.

"There are. Much bigger issues too than I think even you, Kortinar realize." Kortinar frowned but said nothing further.

* * *

Bulma felt a cold wave of fear shoot through her as the door opened. No matter how many times he came for her or how many times she went through it, Vegeta still scared the life out of her. Her experiences with him were something she tried to lock away in the recesses of her mind. Lately however, her time without him had made it all that much harder to know he was coming back. If she had been told before her experience on Vegeta-sei that _anyone_ would have survived what she had experienced in the time since she left Buradea, she never would have believed them. The thought then that _she_ could survive that would have been unfathomable. And yet here she was.

Though as the familiar frame of a muscular Saiyan with hair like fire appeared in the doorway, she began to wonder just how much longer she would be able to survive.

* * *

"I don't understand," Kortinar frowned as he sat alone with the king in his throne room. "How can she be the same girl? The human died during the Downfall." King Vegeta shook his head.

"I thought so too. But I never forget a face and by god it's her Kortinar. The same girl. The Earth girl. That filthy lab rat they brought back when they destroyed the planet. I remember it like it happened yesterday.

_The king of Vegeta-sei watched through the window of the spaceship. His eye surveyed the chaos only a few metres below. Intrigued, he observed as one of the aliens, not physically unlike himself, threw himself between his mate and the invader. It was to no avail as a ki blast tore through the man's body with ease, hitting his mate only a fraction of a second later. They crumpled, both dead before they hit the ground._

"_King Vegeta!" came a voice. The king turned around to see Peris standing in front of him. "We're ready to go. The planet has been cleared of any valuable resources."_

"_Very well. Destroy it. We're done here." It was rare that the king himself attended a purge, but the destruction of Earth was more than a purge. According to Saiyan prophecy, the entire fate of their race hinged upon its destruction._

"_Another thing, sir. The scientists want to know if they can take this," Peris lifted a small bundle that King Vegeta had not noticed before. In the bundle was a small girl, human by the colour of her blue hair. "They want to experiment with it." King Vegeta looked away and nodded._

"_Very well. Just hurry up. I'm done with this planet." A few orders were barked out and the Saiyan soldiers returned to the ship in a few short minutes._

_Fifteen minutes later, the spaceship laden with Saiyan warriors hovered just out of the planet's atmosphere. A single beam of light shot from the ship, the king's energy soared. Upon contact with the beam of light, the planet seemed to collapse inward, imploding, before bloating, cracking like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and finally exploding._

"If I'd only known then what trouble the human brat would be and the grief she would bring, the harm she would cause my son," King Vegeta shook his head. "I would have beheaded it on the spot."

"Harm? She never caused any harm, sir, forgive my ignorance."

"Not physically. But she nearly damaged the boy beyond repair. Made him _soft_. And Narya permitted it. I would've killed the brat again, but her request stayed my hand. He doted on the brat. She even slept in his quarters. When Vegeta and I returned to the planet to the attack, I was upset to learn Narya had been killed, but indescribably pleased to find that Vegeta's brat pet had disappeared. It was the turning point for him and while he is less than ideal, he's a large improvement on what he would have been if Narya had had her way and the brat had stayed."

"But surely sir, he was so young when she left. He must barely remember her."

"He doesn't,' King Vegeta commented. "I have carefully questioned him since and he appears to have removed her existence from his memory, by some well-fated miracle."

"Then what are you worried about?" Kortinar felt he was clearly missing something here.

"I don't know. I have no reason to believe his memory would come back. He's had the concubine for a long amount of time now and nothing has been triggered. But I want her gone, Kortinar. He can never have the chance to remember her. If his memories came back, who knows what it would do to him."

"I understand sir. It would be easy enough for you to have her killed would it not?"

"It would. But the wrath of my son that I would receive for ruining his favourite bed toy would likely seal my ticket out of my position and definitely out of this dimension," King Vegeta admitted,

"Then what do you propose we do?" Kortinar questioned.

"Well, I believe that Vegeta himself may have offered us the perfect method of dealing with the issue."


	9. Katsuma

Chapter 9

"I don't understand," Kakkarot frowned. "You think _you're_ Vegeta's long lost childhood friend?" he questioned.

"I'm not saying that," she told him, frustrated at his apparent inability to understand her point. "I just. I don't know. I get a funny feeling about it. That story you told up at the altar a while ago, that they used to play hide and seek but he could always sense her power level. I have memories of Rainin and I doing the same. And the animals thing; I remember Rainin and I letting animals out of the science wing," Bulma told him. The two of them were in the hospital, standing next to Bardock's sleeping form. Kakkarot's father had healed inside the regen tank and now it remained to see how intact his mental state was when he awoke.

"I know Bulma. But having a few childhood stories in common doesn't mean that you were the person from Vegeta's childhood friend. And it's very unlikely. And let's think about it, if it _was_ you, why don't you remember him?"

"Why doesn't Vegeta remember her?" Bulma shot back.

"Dad always said that Vegeta forced her out of his mind, that losing her was so painful he just wiped her from his memory. I believe that."

"Maybe it was the same for me?" Bulma questioned. Kakkarot shook his head.

"I doubt it, Bulma. She died. I can't see any way she would have escaped."

"But it was the Buradeans who attacked Vegeta-sei at the Downfall. Maybe they took me?" Bulma pushed. Kakkarot raised an eyebrow at her.

"Are you hearing yourself Bulma? Why would they take you? Don't you have memories of coming to Buradea anyway?" Kakkarot questioned.

"Not really. I had an accident when I was about five and don't remember much before that. My adoptive father told me that I was visiting the planet when there was the attack on earth. Apparently he and my earth family were friendly, because of the strong alliance between Earth and Buradea."

According to what she'd learned, Earth and Buradea had been close partners and allies when it came to nearly every aspect of the economy. Her Earth father had been involved in technology and science in a big way, and her Buradean father had held the same position on his planet.

"Well there you go," Kakkarot told her. Bulma shook her head.

"I don't know Kakkarot. It doesn't wash. Something doesn't feel right, it never has. That story of the accident never really sat right with me. Maybe this is why?"

"You're doing your own head in here, Bulma. It's impossible," Kakkarot repeated. He was getting noticeably frustrated with her.

"There's got to be someone around who knew her. Someone who knew Vegeta's friend and could tell us," Bulma insisted. Kakkarot laughed.

"Alright, Bulma. I'm sure the Saiyan Council won't mind a concubine asking them if they remember whether or not she was the childhood friend of their prince," Kakkarot laughed at her. Bulma raised an eyebrow and looked down at Kakkarot's sleeping father. Kakkarot's eyes widened.

"My father?"

"He's on the council. And you could ask him? I'm sure he'd remember," Bulma pushed. Kakakrot shook his head.

"It's time for you to go back to your room, Bulma." He made it apparent that the conversation was over.

Kakkarot silently escorted Bulma back to her room, bidding her farewell before returning to his father's bedside.

In the week since his father had been found the older Saiyan hadn't stirred except for his initial outburst regarding Srinak on the trip home. The whole planet had been involved in a full scale manhunt since the Meeting but so far it appeared that Srinak had simply disappeared without a trace. It was believed he had tapped the communication lines to the palace and disappeared as soon as he learned that Bardock had exposed him.

"Don't worry," Kakkarot mumbled to his father's sleeping form. "We'll get him."

* * *

Vegeta looked down at the still body of his concubine lying on his bed. Her chest rose and fell gently as she breathed. The covers had fallen off and he noticed with surprise that there were fewer bruises than usually covered her body. With the man hunt for Srinak in full swing his time with his concubine had been limited. Just as he began to de-robe the doorbell of his room rang. Quickly pulling his armour on Vegeta opened the door to his chambers.

"This had better be good," Vegeta snarled.

"Begging your pardon my prince, I was told to deliver this to you urgently," the servant spoke quietly, not lifting his head to meet the prince's gaze. He held his hand out, in it a small folded sheet of paper closed with a seal he did not recognize. Vegeta quickly took the envelope and ripped open the seal. Three words were printed on the inside.

_I have Srinak_

Vegeta looked up from the paper to the servant.

"Where did you get this," he whispered in a voice of deathly quiet. "Answer me!" he snapped.

"In the kitchen sir. A Saiyan I don't know, he passed it to me and told me to take it to you or he'd kill my family." Vegeta frowned. For a second it crossed his mind to kill the man on the spot before realizing if he did that he'd never find the man who gave the slave the letter.

"Take me to the man who gave you this letter or your family will be the last of you problems." The slave nodded quickly. Without another word Vegeta followed him from his room. The slave quickly led him down to the kitchen. Once inside he pointed to a dark corner where Vegeta noticed a tall Saiyan standing, hood over his head so Vegeta couldn't see his face. Vegeta quickly searched the other man's ki signature but found nothing he recognized.

"Show yourself," Vegeta demanded. The man's head lifted slowly and he stepped forward into the light, pulling his hood from his head with both hands as he did so. "Who are you," Vegeta demanded again.

"Prince Vegeta," the man said, sinking to one knee and bowing his head. "My name is Katsuma. I am a member of your second battalion, I live in Kairon, not far from here. Forgive my rudeness in the note, I did not want any information to be compromised if the note was intercepted and unsuccessful in reaching you."

"I understand. You have Srinak?"

"Yessir. I was recently away hunting in the far reaches of the Kiyama Ranges, right over the other side of the planet. I found him in a small makeshift house up there. I believe he was waiting for transport to arrive and take him off planet. I recognized him immediately and overpowered him. I brought him back here to the city in a state of unconsciousness. He is currently in my home, bound and under surveillance by my father and two brothers, all excellent warriors."

"He is in your home now?" Vegeta questioned. Katsuma nodded. "Take me to him."

* * *

"Let this be a lesson to you all," Vegeta announced loudly. Vegeta stood in the middle of the Raisem on a crudely crafted badly aligned wooden stage. The seats of the Raisem were full and those who could not fit hovered above the open roof. The Saiyan Council and his father were in a raised viewing platform behind the prince as they watched. Vegeta held his right hand high, balled in a fist. In his left he held the hair of a naked kneeling Saiyan. Srinak was barely recognizable. Vegeta continued. "Treason is not taken lightly on Vegeta-sei. This scumbag here has brought shame to his name, his family and the Saiyan people. His information and betrayal is single handedly responsible for every Pod Saiyan we have come into contact with." Vegeta wrenched the man's hair so hard large clumps came right out. "This filth forsook his heritage and his own people for ill gained glory. For his crimes against our people, he will pay!" The sound of hundreds of thousands of Saiyans cheering filled the Raisem like a sonic boom. Thousands upon thousands of different coloured flame-like auras erupted as the bloodlust and desire for revenge overtook every Saiyan in the room. Vegeta's own ki flared yellow and then purple before he began speaking again. "First things first," Vegeta continued. With his right hand he reached down and grabbed Srinak's tail, forcing the other Saiyan to freeze. "You are no Saiyan," Vegeta hissed, loud enough for only Srinak to hear it. With one swift movement he jerked and Srinak's tail parted company with his body. His screams were lost amongst the chorus of applauding, roaring Saiyans.

"There is no greater honour for a Saiyan warrior than to die in battle. For his crimes, Srinak will be destroyed by my hand, executed and dishonoured." Vegeta turned to Srinak. "You will have no last requests, no last words. You will not have the honour which you denied so many of our race." With that, Vegeta reached around Srinak's front and placed one hand on his shoulder, the other on his chin and twisted. Srinak's head twisted, cracked and then parted company with his body. The crowd broke into cheering and Vegeta lifted the head as the crowd applauded. He then launched Srinak's head into the stands. Vegeta then proceeded to dismember the remains and toss each part to different areas in the Raisem. "Now for another lesson!" Vegeta roared. "That the Saiyan royalty reward those who show loyalty and commitment to our race. Come forward, Katsuma." A loud whisper erupted amongst the gathered Saiyans as Kastuma, a second class Saiyan of no noble descent walked from the royal viewing platform and took his spot next to Vegeta. "I told you all when I gathered you to announce Srinak's betrayal that the Saiyan who brought him to me would have his choice of a concubine from the universally regarded royal harem of Vegeta-sei."

Without warning sections of the ground folded down like trapdoors. From beneath the floor of the Raisem over a thousand unclothed women appeared, all doing their best to cover themselves and preserve even an ounce of dignity. Women of various colours, cultures, planets, races, limb numbers. Vegeta's father appeared next to his son and Katsuma and the three of them began to walk.

"Do you have any preferences?" King Vegeta asked. Katsuma paused. "I prefer women whose appearance at least somewhat mirrors that of Saiyans." King Vegeta laughed. "A sentiment you share with my son. Very well, we will remove any of the more extreme women, though I must point out the advantages of extra appendages before doing so." Katsuma laughed nervously. It was clear that the second class was more than a little uncomfortable in the presence of the king. Most soldiers had fought with the prince and as such respected him as a leader and were more comfortable around him than they were around the king. Around a hundred women remained once the more alien ones had been removed.

As they walked, Vegeta started a little when he noticed a familiar blue hair-do in the lineup. He frowned. She was never meant to be a part of this. He had specifically made sure she was in his quarters when he had left for the execution in order to avoid this exact situation. Vegeta's brow furrowed as they came to a stop in front of Bulma. She didn't look up. Vegeta backhanded her across the face and her head snapped back as she glared at him.

"You will show a bit more respect when in the presence of your prince and king," he snarled. Bulma glared back at him, defiant as ever.

"Not my prince and king," she growled. Vegeta slapped her again and kicked her so she fell on her knees.

"You will show a bit more respect," he repeated, "or I will make your life more of a living hell than it already is." Bulma quavered ever so slightly, knowing the prince didn't make idle threats. She said nothing else and the three men kept walking. Bulma pulled herself to standing position.

The men reached the end of the line.

"I think I've made a decision," announced Katsuma.

"Excellent," King Vegeta answered. "Which one?" Katsuma took a few steps and pointed at Bulma.

"That one." King Vegeta looked to his son as Vegeta's head snapped to Bulma.

"An excellent choice," the king commended. Vegeta paused a moment.

"That concubine is my prized possession, I am going to request that you reconsider. You may take any other _two_ concubines if you leave that one." Katsuma shook his head.

"With all due respect my prince, that is the concubine I wish to take home. My mind is made up." Vegeta said nothing.

"Very well. I made a promise and I will honour my word. We will have her cleaned up and you may pick up your new concubine in the morning." Katsuma nodded and thanked the prince and the crowd began to disperse. Vegeta continued to frown as he made his way to the underground to find his soon-not-to-be-his concubine. How had she ended up in that lineup? There would be some heads roll when he found out who had been responsible for this.

* * *

"Genius, sir. It went perfectly," Kortinar commended. "I do feel somewhat uncomfortable with going behind the prince's back."

King Vegeta nodded. "I understand. But believe me, it's for his own good and the good of the planet. That woman would have been his downfall, mark my words."

"I trust you," Kortinar nodded. "And the man has sworn secrecy?"

"He has. He won't tell Vegeta. I paid him a large sum to pick the concubine and only him, myself and you know about it. If Vegeta finds out we rigged it I'll know who told him and he will be stripped of everything. It's not worth it, for him. He's come out a winner, a concubine and enough money that he will be comfortable for the rest of his life. I think we're pretty safe."

Kortinar frowned uncertainly.

"You know Prince Vegeta as well as I do, your highness. And there's nothing I would put past him. I hope for all our sakes that you're right and he never does find out."

* * *

Vegeta threw Bulma onto his bed roughly by the arm.

"How did you end up in that lineup? I thought I told you to stay in my quarters!" Vegeta yelled. Bulma couldn't remember the last time he'd been this angry at her.

"I did! I was just sitting here minding my own business when a guard turned up to collect me."

"And you just went with him? Against my command?"

"What was I supposed to do, overpower him?" she remarked sarcastically. "You know as well as I do that any Saiyan could kill me before I knew what was happening. It's not like I had much of a choice." Vegeta opened his mouth to argue but he had no words.

Bulma watched him as he mused. She tried not to let any emotions show on her face. Her insides were a tumultuous mess of fear and excitement. Fear of the unknown, she had no idea what her new 'master' would be worse or better than Vegeta. She knew the prince's reputation by now and knew that his temper was legendary even amongst Saiyans. But so was his self control. So while he beat her and abused her at the drop of a hat, he hadn't killed her yet. Other Saiyans may not be as controlled. And yet a small part of her wondered whether that might be the lesser of two evils. At least it would be over. She could see her parents, both sets, and Rainin and all her friends from Buaradea who had been taken from her far too soon. Maybe a new master for one night, as rough and horrible as he might be, might just be the ticket out of this and away from her Saiyan nightmare.

Another part of her hoped that he might be kind. That he might respect her. That he might treat her like a human, or at the very least that he may not beat her to within inches of her life at every encounter. The more she thought about it, the more Bulma felt hope grow. Hope that it might be over this time tomorrow, that her outlandish time at the hands of the Saiyan prince might finally be over. It wasn't much, but it was the first hope she'd had since she'd come to Vegeta-sei.

Bulma looked up to Vegeta and felt a bolt of cold fear and dread shoot through her at the look on his face. Hope as she might have for tomorrow, she had to first make it through tonight. Bulma closed her eyes as she advanced on him. The small bead of hope was barely there, but she held onto it and focused as the nightmare she knew all too well began.

She thought of what it would be like when it was over. When it was done and gone. Life without the monster that was the Saiyan prince. A life without Saiyans, a world where Buradea and her family and friends were still there. A world where she had married Rainin, the man she loved and they had raised the family they had dreamed of. She almost smiled if she imagined the wedding, her family and his, proud and beaming. She thought of the dress she would have had, the life she would have, the times they would share. She thought of them growing old together, watching their children grow and marry and have children of their own.

Every now and then her mind came back to the present and she swallowed back the tears that threatened as the Saiyan prince destroyed her. Bulma tried sinking back into her trance like state. She remembered her childhood with Rainin and the promise of the future that she would have again once her time with the Saiyans was done, found herself actually hoping that her new master would end it all for her tomorrow.

She felt the holes, the holes in her soul and her existence that had been put there by Vegeta. The places in her that were so dark even she was too scared to venture into them for fear they would swallow her up, fear that she would visit them and never come back. She thought of the times in the palace with Rainin, letting the animals out, playing hide and seek. She could almost hear him counting exasperatedly, grumbling that he could sense her energy and it was a waste of time.

Bulma felt like she had been hit by a bolt of lightning, she gasped as something almost physical hit her. Rainin had never been able to sense ki signatures, none of the Buradeans could. Struggling to breathe, Bulma saw the memory with her eyes wide open

"_Found you," he sighed exasperatedly. _

"_You cheated," she pouted. He rolled his eyes again._

"_I can sense your energy anyway,. This game is pointless, I always win."_

And Bulma saw him, small and young but with that characteristic hair swept up like a flame, his black hair and dark brooding eyes, dressed in Saiyan armour.

"_Only because you cheat!" The two children headed down the main hall to the Science Wing ._

"_Well, I'll see you later Vegeta," she said as she turned through the door._

"_Yea see you later B-chan," the prince nodded, and the two turned their separate ways._

It was him, it had always been him. Bulma's mind seemed to flash between reality and memories so intensely it was like a strobe light. A younger version of her and Vegeta lay in the same bed they were currently in.

"_Ai shiteiru," Bulma whispered sleepily. Vegeta frowned at her in amusement. She'd said that to him quite a few times now, normally after they'd spent a lot of time together. It was in her native language, and the prince liked the way her speech sounded._

"_B-chan, what does that mean?" he asked. Since she hadn't been old enough to speak when she was taken from her planet, she had sought to learn it in order to retain a piece of her heritage. Bulma looked up at Vegeta through sleepy eyes._

"_Means, I love you," she yawned, before falling asleep. Vegeta looked down at the little girl and felt an odd jolt in his stomach. She loved him. Vegeta smiled. He couldn't say those words. They were effectively taboo in the Saiyan world, often even between mates. And he was the Saiyan prince, the ultimate of Saiyans. But in her language, it was different. He closed his eyes, tightening his arm around her. She was his support, his partner in crime, and his closest friend._

"_Ai shiteiru," he whispered back, as he too slowly drifted off to sleep._

Present day Bulma gave a loud choking sob as she came roaring back to reality. Vegeta had finished with her and was lying on the other side of the bed. Bulma felt something warm run down the side of her head. She grazed her hand across it and realized it was blood. It barely registered. Her mind was reeling. She had few memories, but the ones she did have were vivid, why didn't she remember more? She couldn't believe she had been right. She _was_ Vegeta's childhood friend. She had been right. She looked at the back of the man lying next to her on the bed.

How had he become what he was? She remembered the younger, more carefree Vegeta. The Vegeta who had told her he loved her? How had he changed so much? It was obvious he had no memory of her. But her memories of him were of a different person than the one that she knew now, the one that had destroyed her. She let out a few shaky, shallow breaths. Gently, not knowing what she was planning to do, Bulma reached out to Vegeta. She felt him clam up as she slid her hand up over his side and kissed the back of his neck.

"Aishiteiru," she whispered sadly, before sliding gently out of the bed and heading for the bathroom to clean herself up.

* * *

Vegeta frowned and stiffened as her hand snaked over his side and his spine hairs tingled as her lips touched the back of his neck. What the hell was she playing at?

"Aishiteiru," she whispered.

Silence. Somewhere in the distance Vegeta heard water running but it might as well have been light years away. His mind was completely still, except for something, something moving. Something he could feel rocketing towards the surface so quickly and strongly it scared him. Vegeta let out a feral yell and his hands shot to his temples as he groaned and his face contorted in a non-existent pain. Memories, by the ton exploded in his brain like fireworks. Things connected, things he'd never known but had always known. At hyperspeed they forged their ways only the paths of his brain, joining a raft of memories both known and unknown.

When the mental pain subsided and all that was left was a dull thudding it started.

The confusion, the questions, the shock, the disbelief.

_Bulma._

In a movement not his own Vegeta climbed out of bed, his legs carrying him to the bathroom. He opened the door and she looked up, still sponging the last of the blood off her head. She turned around, something he couldn't read in her eyes. As they stared at each other he felt everything and nothing. He looked into the eyes of a woman he'd never known that he'd always known. Eyes that were burned in his memory, the window to a soul that had been his world and had been gone.

She flinched as Vegeta lifted his hand, bracing for a strike. Whatever she was expecting it wasn't the gentle cupping of her cheek that she felt. She looked up to meet his gaze again and was scared and unsettled at what looked back. In a single face and set of eyes she saw two men. She saw the man she always thought she had hated, the monster who had destroyed her world, murdered her fiancé and stolen her future, the man she hated through to her core, who had done and said unspeakable things to her, made her feel worse than dead. And then she saw the man he used to be, could have been, the child she had shared herself with and who had cared for her when no one else had, the person she'd loved. Both of them stared back at her from behind those black, normally empty eyes. They jostled for control, sometimes she saw one and then the other, but always she saw confusion.

He knew.

He'd remembered.

"B-chan," he whispered.

"You remember." It wasn't a question. He nodded in answer nonetheless. Bulma turned away and wiped the last of the blood from her forehead, before pushing gently past him and heading to the balcony of his room. She stood inside the door, looking out at the night hanging above the Kiyama Ranges.

"Have you always known?" Vegeta asked quietly. She hadn't even realized he'd followed her. She shrugged.

"For a while. In the beginning, no. But when you went away, Kakkarot said some things and I started wondering. I didn't know for sure until now." Vegeta quietly came and stood next to her. "What do you remember?"

"Everything," he answered.

"More than I do then. It's only coming back in patches." She turned to face him and look at the man she used to know, thought she'd known and now realized that she didn't know at all. "What happened to you?" Vegeta paused, angry at first but swallowing it. It was a valid question. The memories which had just returned to him, well, they were of a different person.

"I think it was after you left. I've dreamt about it before, I thought it was about my mother. But it was both of you. My father and I returned to the planet and she was dead and you were gone, dead I thought." He looked to her standing next to him. "How did you survive?"

"I don't remember," she whispered. "I've only got parts of it."

Silence ensued.

They continued in this manner for a matter of hours, well into the early hours of the morning. Long periods of confusion and questions followed by even longer silences.

The first signs of dawn started appearing over the ranges. Bulma's new master would be there soon. She looked at Vegeta who now sat across from her on the bed. She would finally be rid of the Prince of all Saiyans. For all the memories she had discovered, she relished the fact that she would soon be free of him. All the childhood memories in the world would never change what he had done, and who he had been would never change who he was.

Vegeta seemed to have used up his words for the time being. Bulma silently headed for the shower, leaving the confused, unsettled prince. When she returned from the shower it was to find herself alone in his quarters. Quietly, Bulma readied herself and gathered her minimal belongings for her move to her new home, if you could call it that.

She was still alone when a palace servant arrived to collect her for Katsuma. She almost let out a small smile as she left Vegeta's quarters for the last time, alone. Or so she thought. Bulma didn't noticed as she left the Saiyan Prince's quarters, the brooding figure squatted in the shadows, shrouded in darkness watching her leave. When she had been gone for more than an hour the Saiyan Prince finally stepped from the shadows and returned to his chambers.


End file.
